A British navy base on Cyprus was struck by an unmanned Iranian drone on Monday amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, with authorities issuing precautionary evacuation orders for the encircling space.
The space across the Mediterranean island base on the southern coast was evacuated, the Cypriot inside ministry stated. Paphos airport in western Cyprus was additionally evacuated however later bought the all-clear and was working as regular, an airport official stated.
The precautionary evacuations got here after two drones headed in the direction of the Akrotiri base had been additionally intercepted earlier on Monday.
More than 60 flights had been cancelled at Larnaca and Paphos airports, the official added. Larnaca, on the southeastern coast, was additionally now working as ordinary.
Families of air drive personnel there have been evacuated, the UK ministry of defence instructed AFP, though the bottom continued to function as regular.
The harm had been “minimal” and there have been no casualties, officers stated.
The UK’s Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, insisted the nation was “not at war”.
“Let me be really clear: the UK took a deliberate decision not to be part of the first wave of strikes conducted by the United States and Israeli governments,” he stated.
“But in the face of reckless attacks from Iran … we took the decision, as the prime minister announced last night, to support the US’s request to use our bases in order to conduct defensive actions.”
Lessons discovered from Iraq
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer introduced late on Sunday that he had agreed to a US request to make use of British navy bases for “specific and limited defensive purpose” having beforehand taken a “deliberate” resolution to not be concerned.
He stated that the errors of the Iraq conflict had been “learned”.
The preliminary resolution to not again the United States attracted the ire of US President Donald Trump, who stated he had been “very disappointed” in Starmer’s resolution.
Trump, in an unique interview with The Daily Telegraph, described the prime minister’s later resolution to permit the usage of bases on particular grounds as “useful” however stated it “took far too much time”.
“President Trump has expressed his disagreement with our decision not to get involved in the initial strikes,” Starmer stated after Trump criticised him.
“But it is my duty to judge what is in Britain’s national interest. That is what I’ve done, and I stand by it.”
‘Reckless’
Starmer stated on Monday that the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had led Iran to strike regional navy and financial targets in a “reckless” method.
The dying of Khamenei “will not stop Iran from launching these strikes”, Starmer instructed parliament. “In fact, their approach is becoming even more reckless and more dangerous to civilians.”
Any potential navy motion within the Middle East is politically delicate within the UK following former prime minister Tony Blair’s disastrous help for the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Evie Aspinall, director of the British Foreign Policy Group think-tank, stated that the UK wouldn’t need to be “seen as a key party in this conflict”.
“Hence allowing defensive not offensive strikes, although the difference between the two is, in practice, often very minimal,” she stated.
Greece stated it was sending two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus. Athens would help Cyprus in “countering threats and illegal actions on its territory”, the defence ministry stated.
Defence Minister Nikos Dendias additionally stated he would journey to Cyprus on Tuesday.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides stated the incident simply after midnight (2200 GMT) concerned “a Shahed unmanned aerial vehicle”.
Britain’s Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper stated the UK authorities was “working on every possible option” to assist its nationals within the area return house if wanted.
“There’s an estimated 300,000 British citizens in Gulf countries that have now been targeted by Iran, including countries where now airspace is closed,” she instructed Sky News.
More than 100,000 UK nationals had to date registered their presence within the area, Cooper stated.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20260302-uk-base-in-cyprus-hit-by-drone-as-fallout-from-iran-war-spreads-beyond-middle-east