RAF base in Cyprus hit by drone strike, Ministry of Defence says | World News
The RAF base Akrotiri in Cyprus has been hit by a one-way attack drone, amid a fresh conflict in the Middle East that started on Saturday.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky News’s Mornings With Ridge and Frost the strike hit the airport’s runway and said “all of the precautionary measures are being taken around the base”.
There were no casualties in the incident at the base near Limassol, Cyprus.
However, in response to the attack, the base is moving families and temporarily relocating non-essential staff.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) described it as a “precautionary measure”.
The families are being relocated to alternative accommodation on the island.
An MoD spokesperson said: “The safety of our personnel and their families is our absolute priority.
“Our base and personnel continue to operate as normal protecting the safety of Britain and our interests.”
The UK government has not yet confirmed where the drone originated from.
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It was the first attack on the RAF facility since a rocket attack by Libyan militants in 1986.
An MoD spokesperson said earlier: “Our armed forces are responding to a suspected drone strike at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus at midnight local time.”
Later on Monday, Cyprus’s President Nikos Christodoulides said authorities there are on full alert after the drone strike.
But he reiterated the territory “does not participate in any way and does not intend to be part of any military operation”.
RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. File pic: PA
The armed forces had been moving extra resources, including counter-drone systems, F-35 jets and radar systems to its bases in Cyprus.
The MoD said the additional capabilities were purely for defensive measures: mainly detecting and defeating airborne threats.
Sky News understands the drone involved in the incident at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was small.
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The suspected strike came hours after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK had allowed the US to strike Iranian missile sites from select British bases.
Sky News understand these to be RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire Cyprus and Diego Garcia in the disputed Chagos Islands.
Responding to the announcement, the Liberal Democrats warned of a “slippery slope” that risked the US “[dragging] Britain into another prolonged war in the Middle East”.
A Cyprus government spokesperson said: “Information received through various channels indicates that it involved an unmanned drone, which caused limited damage”.
Hostilities in the Middle East are entering their third day, with the US and Israel continuing to strike Iran following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
More than 200,000 British nationals, including military personnel, are thought to be at risk in the Gulf as the Tehran regime launches further missiles at its neighbours.
