New Delhi:
As the United States carried out a large-scale strike in Caracas, Venezuela, a pizza outlet near the Pentagon witnessed an unusual late-night surge in orders on Saturday, January 3.
The high activity and sales at fast-food chains near the US military headquarters in Virginia’s Arlington County are often an indication of one thing: American security is awake and working.
Pentagon Pizza Report, an account that tracks such activities and reports on X, highlighted a sudden surge in traffic at Pizzato Pizza in the wee hours of Saturday.
“Pizzato Pizza, a late-night pizzeria nearby the Pentagon, has suddenly surged in traffic. As of 2:04am ET,” it wrote.
Pizzato Pizza, a late night pizzeria nearby the Pentagon, has suddenly surged in traffic.
As of 2:04am ET pic.twitter.com/P60jMKfT1d
— Pentagon Pizza Report (@PenPizzaReport) January 3, 2026
The activity at the pizza outlet continued until 3:05 AM ET, the X account informed in another post.
Pizzato Pizza, a late night pizzeria nearby the Pentagon, continues to report high activity.
As of 3:05am ET pic.twitter.com/IbjHq44Q1x
— Pentagon Pizza Report (@PenPizzaReport) January 3, 2026
Interestingly, Pentagon Pizza Report later updated that the outlet “emptied out, reporting essentially 0 traffic” at 3:44 AM ET after witnessing a surge in traffic for nearly one-and-a-half hours.
Update: Pizzato Pizza, after surging in traffic for about 1.5 hrs, has now emptied out, reporting essentially 0 traffic.
As of 3:44am ET pic.twitter.com/ngnSOKIjHt
— Pentagon Pizza Report (@PenPizzaReport) January 3, 2026
In June last year, a similar surge was witnessed at the fast-food chains near the Pentagon when Israel was planning to launch airstrikes on Iran as part of Operation Lion.
US strikes Venezuela
In a post on his Truth Social platform, US President Donald Trump informed that his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro, along with his wife, Cilia Flores, was “captured” and “flown out of the country”. This happened as the US “successfully” carried out a large-scale strike against the country.
“This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement,” Trump wrote and added that a news conference will be held at Mar-a-Lago at 11 AM (local time).
A few hours before the official announcement from Trump, loud explosions were heard around the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. It started at around 2 AM (local time) on Saturday.
On social media, several photographs and videos showed multiple buildings set on fire across the city. A power outage was reported in the southern area of Caracas near a major military base. This is US’ first direct intervention in a Latin American country since the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose Manuel Noriega.
Venezuela’s responds
Declaring a national emergency, the Venezuelan government hit out at “military aggression” by the US.
President Maduro’s government said it “rejects, repudiates, and denounces before the international community the extremely serious military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and people”.
Accusing Maduro of heading a drug cartel, the US President recently said that “it would be smart” for Maduro to step down.
Last month, when reporters asked if Washington’s threats were designed to force Maduro to leave office after 12 years, Trump said: “That’s up to him, what he wants to do. I think it would be smart for him to do that.”
“If he wants to do something — if he plays tough, it’ll be the last time he’s ever able to play tough,” AFP quoted the US President as saying.
