France, Greece and the United Kingdom reinforce their military presence in Cyprus after the drone attack on a British base

Although the base is considered sovereign British territory, it is located near populated areas in Cyprus, which caused the evacuation of hundreds of people.

Cyprus, an EU member state that has a modest defensive capability and lacks an air force, was seen unexpectedly involved in the conflict unleashed after the American and Israeli attacks against Iran and Tehran’s response that has set the entire region on fire.

Although Cyprus has not officially requested – after the attack on the British base on its territory – that the mutual defense clause as a NATO memberFrance will send a frigate and anti-missile systems to the island, which will be added to the four fighters and the frigate sent by Greece.

The Government of Emmanuel Macron reiterated its willingness to defend both its interests and those of its partners in the Middle East, without offensive objectives and “in a proportionate manner.”

GreeceFor its part, this Tuesday it reaffirmed its military support for Cyprus with the deployment of F-16 fighters and frigates to improve the defense of the Mediterranean island.

The Minister of Defense of Greece, Nikos Dendias, highlighted this Tuesday at a press conference the deployment of air and naval means to strengthen Cypriot defense.

The last to join this reinforcement has been the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer who announced this Tuesday the deployment in Cyprus of the HMS Dragon (D35), one of the Royal Navy’s six Type 45 destroyers, as well as sending several helicopters with anti-drone technology.

Two attacks in Cyprus

Two separate drone incidents were recorded in Cyprus on Monday, first, a Iranian-designed Shahed aircraft crashed on the runway of the Akrotiri base and caused limited damage and later Two other unmanned ships were intercepted.

Apparently, the anti-aircraft defenses did not detect the devices because they were flying at a very low altitude.

The Government of Cyprus indicated that unmanned ships left from Lebanon and are unofficially attributed to the Lebanese Shiite militia HezbollahIran’s ally.

Regarding this attack, the European Commission He pointed out this Tuesday that Cyprus has not asked to activate the European mutual defense clause.

“The activation of the mutual defense clause has not been specifically discussed,” said the chief spokesperson for the European Commission, Paula Pinho, at the community Executive’s daily press conference, when asked about the issue.

And he specified that if this mutual clause were activated at some point, “it would be up to the EU Member States or, in this case, the EU Member State victim of an alleged armed attack, to carry out the necessary legal and political evaluation before activating the clause.”