01/14/2026
Trump Carried Out More Military Strikes in a Year Than Biden in Full Term
Published
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The United States carried out more unilateral strikes on foreign soil during President Donald Trump’s first year back in the White House than in his predecessor Joe Biden's entire four-year term, according to statistics released on Tuesday by a conflict watchdog.
In the last 12 months, the nearly 600 individual U.S. military strikes ordered by the second Trump administration have spanned three continents, for operations against terrorist organizations, authoritarian regimes and drug cartels, according to data supplied by the nonprofit Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) project and reviewed by Newsweek.
Why It Matters
The U.S. Defense Department's most recent high-profile use of force came less than two weeks ago, when the U.S. struck Venezuela's key military sites in Caracas while American special operations forces captured President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a swift raid that critics said likely violated international law. The U.S. government is prosecuting Maduro on charges of narcoterrorism and drug trafficking.
Trump, who ran on a campaign as the president of peace, is now escalating his threats against longtime U.S. adversaries like Cuba and Iran, while also pressuring Denmark to relinquish control of its strategic Arctic territory Greenland to counter China and Russia.