UK RAF airbase in Cyprus hit by drone strike

Original article by Guardian staff and agencies

The UK’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus has been hit by a drone strike, causing limited damage and no casualties, Cypriot authorities and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have said.

A security alert put out to residents in the vicinity of Akrotiri by the British base’s administration advised residents to shelter in place until further notice “following a suspected drone impact”. Non-essential personnel have been asked leave to leave the base.

An MoD spokesperson said: “Our armed forces are responding to a suspected drone strike at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus at midnight local time. Our force protection in the region is at the highest level and the base has responded to defend our people.”

The apparent attack took place hours after the UK agreed to let the US use British military bases to attack Iranian missile sites.

The UK has so far not been involved in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, but in a recorded statement on Sunday evening, the prime minister said that Iran’s approach was becoming more reckless and putting British lives at risk, leading to the decision to allow the US to use two of its military bases.

On Sunday night, Keir Starmer said British forces would not be directly involved in the strikes, and the bases would only be used for the “specific and limited defensive purpose” of targeting missile storage depots and launchers being used to attack Iran’s neighbours.

“We have taken the decision to accept this request – to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region … killing innocent civilians … putting British lives at risk … and hitting countries that have not been involved,” the prime minister said.

The MoD confirmed on Monday that people who live at RAF Akrotiri were being moved to accommodation nearby on Cyprus “as a precautionary measure”.

“Our base and personnel continue to operate as normal protecting the safety of Britain and our interests,” the statement added.

On Monday morning, the president of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides, said the Akrotiri base was hit overnight by an unmanned Shahed drone which caused minor material damage.

“I want to be clear: our country does not participate in any way and does not intend to be part of any military operation,” Christodoulides said in a statement.

Britain retains sovereignty over the territory of two bases on Cyprus, which is a member of the EU. RAF Akrotiri covers a sprawling, square-shaped peninsula on the southern tip of the eastern Mediterranean island. The last time it was directly attacked was by Libyan militants in the mid-1980s.

According to the MoD’s website, the joint operating base is “used as a forward mounting base for overseas operations in the Middle East and for fast jet training”.

It is understood the UK government recently moved additional resources to bases in Cyprus as part of its operations in the Middle East.

Hostilities in the Middle East entered their third day on Monday, with the US and Israel continuing to strike Iran after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an airstrike.

In his announcement on Sunday, Starmer said that 200,000 British nationals, including military personnel, were thought to be at risk in the Gulf as Iran launched further missiles at its neighbours.

It was not clear which bases would be used, but the US president, Donald Trump, had previously referred to asking to use Diego Garcia, one of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.

Reuters and the Press Association contributed to this report