Following the United States’ recent capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, terrorist organizations and extremist groups worldwide – from Iranian-backed militias to jihadi networks – have used this opportunity to denounce what they characterize as American aggression and lawlessness on the international stage.
Hizbullah, the Houthi movement in Yemen, and prominent jihadi figures have issued statements framing the U.S. action as a violation of international law and sovereignty, with some calling it evidence of American “piracy” and adherence to “jungle law.” Meanwhile, Salafi-jihadi groups, including ISIS supporters, are interpreting the event through their own lens: predicting wider global conflict and asserting that only their movement genuinely threatens U.S. power.
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM) has been tracking these reactions across multiple platforms, revealing how extremist organizations are leveraging the Venezuela crisis to advance their anti-American narratives and rally their supporters. The following report examines the diverse responses from these groups and what they reveal about their strategic messaging.
The U.S. Attack in Venezuela Jeopardizes World Peace
Following the U.S. raid, Lebanese Hizbullah, the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi Ansar Allah (Houthi) movement, and prominent Iraqi Shi’ite religious scholar Muqtada Al-Sadr, condemned it, labeling it a “brutal” operation with “the logic of the law of the jungle,” and a reflection of the policy of plundering resources that they believe guides U.S. actions. Saying that the raid and capture of Maduro disproves America’s claim that it aims to establish world peace and spread the principles of democracy and human rights, they also expressed full solidarity with Venezuela and stressed its right to defend itself, and called on the “free people” of the world to resist America’s forceful methods and not to submit to its “logic of control and arrogance.”
Hizbullah’s statement condemned the “terrorist aggression and American brutality,” calling the raid “an embarrassing and unprecedented violation” of Venezuela’s sovereignty and of the UN Charter. It added that the attack again proves the “path of arrogance and piracy” that is being pursued by the U.S. administration, that makes a mockery of global stability and security and acts in accordance with “the logic of the law of the jungle.”
A Houthi Foreign Ministry statement condemning the American “aggression” called it a gross violation of the UN Charter, of international law, and of Venezuela’s sovereignty. Labeling this American action a continuation of “a long history of American intervention in the domestic affairs of other countries,” the statement said that this reflects America’s approach of “political brutality” and its “policy of the jungle, plundering the resources of other nations, and waging war against anyone who opposes America’s hegemony.” It added that the attack jeopardizes international peace and security, calling on the international community and the UN to fulfill their obligation and ensure that international law is upheld.
Venezuela Must Learn From the Houthis to Attack U.S. Vessels – America Respects Only Force
Houthi political bureau member Muhammad Al-Farah called on the people of Venezuela not to wait for the UN to restore their president to them. He wrote on X that Maduro will only be returned to his country if the U.S. is made to feel that its interests are under threat, that its ships are about to be attacked by the Venezuelans, and that the Venezuelan people are mobilizing and ready, harboring “great hostility toward America.” Yemen’s experience in confronting the U.S., he added, is “a lesson for everyone who has been harmed by its evil.”
Salafi-Jihadis Declare That Jihadis are the Only Real Threat to U.S. Hegemony
Salafi-jihadis, including ISIS supporters and Syria-based jihadis, reacted online to the capture of Maduro with predictions of a wide-ranging global conflict embroiling the U.S. and other powers, and with assertions that it is only the jihadis who truly threaten U.S. hegemony.
For example, in Facebook posts, prominent ISIS supporter Abu ‘Abdallah Al-Halabi aka Muhammad Jabhah, the former media official of the ISIS-linked Liwa’ Al-Aqsa, asserted that the U.S. operation in Venezuela was an attempt to seize control over the country’s oil reserves in preparation for a future attack on Arab countries, and predicted a global conflict involving the U.S., Russia, China, Iran, and Arab states.
Describing Venezuela as “the gas station financing the war on the Arab countries,” he asserted that the U.S. is currently making preparations for an attack on the Arabian Peninsula. He claimed that Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland as an independent country, Saudi military activity against UAE-backed forces in Yemen, and now the arrest of Venezuela’s president are all steps toward this goal.
