A drone attack that damaged a hangar at a British military base in Cyprus has heightened concerns over the long-standing presence of the United Kingdom’s military bases on the island, with the incident rekindling debate among Cypriots over the involvement of the United Kingdom’s sovereign bases in local conflicts.
Last week’s drone attack occurred at the Royal Air Force Akrotiri base, which serves as a major base for the United Kingdom’s military forces on the island’s southern coastline, when an unmanned aerial device struck a building at the base, leaving a noticeable hole on the side of one of the hangars.
No injuries were reported during the incident, which has been attributed to a drone launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah forces according to initial findings by the United Kingdom’s military forces.
The incident has taken place at a time when tensions between Iran and Israel, as well as their respective allies in the Middle East, continue to escalate following a series of retaliatory attacks involving the parties to the conflict.
While the damage was minimal, the incident has attracted attention both within Britain and Cyprus.
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In the United Kingdom, some writers and security experts have used the incident to illustrate that overseas bases may face the threat of new forms of attacks.
In Cyprus, which has been home to the UK’s sovereign territory since the end of colonial rule, opponents of the bases have used the incident to emphasize the risks associated with hosting foreign military bases that may be linked to local conflicts.
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, over the weekend to protest against the presence of the British bases on the island.
Organisers said that between 200 and 300 people attended the protest rally, which began near the presidential palace.
Protesters carried placards with the inscription “British Bases Out” and others expressing solidarity with the Palestinians and opposition to the US and Israel.
“We just want to have an independent Cyprus,” said Natasha Theodotou, a local business owner who attended the protest while holding one of the banners. “Just as we’re occupied by the Turkish government,” she said, referring to the Turkish occupation of the northern part of the island. “We are occupied by the UK.”
Britain gained two large sovereign territories in Cyprus as a result of a treaty that established the island as an independent state in 1960. The treaty ended the British colonial rule on the island.
The two territories are the Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs), which include the RAF Akrotiri in the south of the island and another complex at Dhekelia on the southeastern coast. Together, the two territories span about 98 square miles (254 square kilometers) of the island.
The arrangements were negotiated between the United Kingdom, Greece, and Turkey, along with representatives of the island’s Greek and Turkish Cypriots, as part of the constitutional settlement that created the modern Cypriot state.
Since then, the bases have been important logistical and operational centers for the British military and other Allied forces operating in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East.
However, the drone strike at RAF Akrotiri has given the long-standing debate on the bases in the country a new dimension.
Some of the protesters claimed that the bases make the island more vulnerable to retaliatory strikes in the event of any conflict in the region.
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“However, I think that we’d be a lot safer without them here,” Shona Muir, another protester who carried a banner demanding the removal of the bases during the march, said. “Their presence alone here makes us more of a target.”
The protest is also a reflection of the concerns of the people of the island regarding the use of the bases during the current period of increased military activity in the region.
RAF Akrotiri has been used for many British military operations in the Middle East in the past few decades.
These operations include air strikes in Iraq and Syria. Recently, reports have suggested that surveillance flights to monitor the situation in Gaza have been carried out from the base.
The UK government claims that the bases it maintains in Cyprus do not host the strikes carried out by the US against the Iranian missile sites.
However, the fact that the US maintains its U-2 spy planes at the RAF base in Akrotiri seems to have caught the attention of observers who believe that the base could be a target in the event of a conflict with Iran or its allies.
Although the British government claims that the bases it maintains in Cyprus do not take part in any strikes against the Iranian forces, they do take part in defensive operations.