British and Cypriot authorities evacuated a key air base and a major airport after intercepting drones heading for the UK’s sovereign territory on Cyprus.
AKROTIRI: British authorities evacuated their sovereign Akrotiri air base on Monday following a series of drone incidents targeting the facility.
Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis confirmed that two unmanned aerial vehicles heading toward the British base had been “dealt with in a timely manner”.
The evacuation order came hours after an Iranian-made Shahed drone crashed into the base, causing what Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides described as minor damage.
An AFP correspondent at the scene reported hearing sirens and witnessing approximately 70 vehicles, mostly civilian, leaving the area around noon local time.
State broadcaster CyBC added that three fighter jets took off from the base concurrently with the evacuation.
The Cypriot interior ministry subsequently ordered the evacuation of the area surrounding Akrotiri as well as Paphos International Airport, the island’s second-largest airport located roughly 50 kilometres west of the base.
Paphos airport also hosts a military facility used by the United States, according to the ministry’s statement.
These security incidents followed a significant policy announcement by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday, who stated the United Kingdom would permit its facilities to be used by the US for “specific and limited defensive purposes” in its conflict with Iran.
Britain maintains two sovereign base areas on Cyprus, retained after the island gained independence in 1960, which have been utilised in past military campaigns including operations against the Islamic State group and the 2011 intervention in Libya.
In a related development, Greece announced on Sunday it was deploying two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets to assist Cyprus in “countering threats and illegal actions on its territory”.
Letymbiotis later stated that the Cypriot government was seeking “explicit guarantees” from Britain that the bases would be used solely for humanitarian purposes, despite Nicosia having no official authority over the sovereign British territory.
The Sun Malaysia
