Britain is facing intensified calls to withdraw its military presence from Cyprus as local opposition surges following an unprecedented drone strike on RAF Akrotiri, The Guardian reported on Sunday.
Protesters marched to the Presidential Palace in Nicosia on Saturday, chanting “out with the bases of death.” The demonstrations reflect a growing fear that the island is being dragged into the wider conflict with Iran due to the sovereign base areas, which many now view as a direct threat to national security.
Foreign Minister confirms Lebanese origin
In an interview with The Guardian, Cyprus’ Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos confirmed for the first time that the Iranian-made drone which struck the airbase late last Sunday was launched from Lebanon.
According to the report, the device was deployed from an area housing Hezbollah units and Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) proxies. Kombos revealed that two additional combat drones were intercepted off the coast less than 12 hours after the initial strike, both originating from the same direction.
“Right now it’s a fact that we have to be looking towards the Lebanese front,” Kombos told The Guardian, adding that authorities “cannot exclude anything” from the north-east and must ensure defense systems cover all possible threats.
Unheeded warnings and security gaps
Cypriot officials expressed frustration, noting that Nicosia had repeatedly “raised the red flag” regarding the vulnerability of the British facilities during talks with London starting last year. The Guardian reports that these warnings went unheeded.
Minister Kombos emphasized that the Republic of Cyprus maintains a policy of neutrality and a humanitarian role, but the British bases have been specifically singled out for attack. “We’ve consistently communicated that the bases could be a target if things move in a specific direction regionally,” he said.
Failed expectations
While RAF Akrotiri remains the UK’s most critical forward-mounting post in the Middle East, the recent breach has exposed significant gaps in coordination. Kombos admitted to The Guardian that “not everything that could be done was done to the level of expectations” regarding the safety of Cypriots living and working within the base areas.
Despite the friction, the minister stated that his current focus is on how “cooperation improves” to prevent further escalations. However, for many citizens like Mathaios Stavrinides, who spoke to the British newspaper, the only solution is closure: “They are a danger to our security and should never have been here in the first place.”
