'US to start hitting drug cartels': Days after Maduro's capture, Trump says US to conduct land strikes in Mexico

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that America would conduct land strikes against drug cartels operating out of Mexico, without providing further details. His warning comes after maritime attacks in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea. 

Trump also claimed that around 250,000-300,000 people were killed in the US every single year due to drug cartels in Mexico. 

"We are going to start now hitting land with regard to the cartels. The cartels are running Mexico. It's very, very sad to watch and see what's happened to that country, but the cartels are running and they're killing 250,000 to 300,000 people in our country every single year," Trump told FOX News broadcaster Sean Hannity.

Strikes on Mexico would mark a significant US military escalation. His comment comes days after the dramatic capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife last weekend by the US forces, months after mounting military and economic pressure on the Leftist leader. 

As part of its campaign, the US has killed over 100 people in strikes on alleged drug boats since September last year. Moreover, Trump said that the American forces conducted a land strike on a docking area for similar vessels in Venezuela. 

The Venezuelan government has condemned US strikes as a threat to regional stability. 

Meanwhile, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Monday that the Americans "do not belong" to any power after Trump invoked the US' dominance of the hemisphere following Maduro's capture. 

Donald Trump said that he was pushing Sheinbaum to let him send American troops to tackle Mexican drug cartels, an offer he said she previously rejected. 

Moreover, Sheinbaum condemned the US attack on Venezuela while urging bilateral cooperation. "We categorically reject intervention in the internal affairs of other countries," she said. 

“The history of Latin America is clear and compelling: intervention has never brought democracy, never generated well-being, nor lasting stability."