Defence Secretary John Healey to visit Cyprus amid anger over UK 'not doing enough' to protect bases
Defence Secretary John Healey is visiting Cyprus today in a bid to calm tensions after anger from some in the country that the UK is not doing more to protect British bases on the island.
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Healey is set to meet his Cypriot counterpart and is likely to visit British forces personnel protecting the country’s interests in the Middle East.
Britain maintains sovereignty over two bases - Akrotiri and Dhekelia - as part of the 1960 treaty which established Cypriot independence from the UK. The bases cover “roughly three per cent of the island” and are among the 14 surviving British Overseas Territories, such as Gibraltar and the Falkland Islands.
Yesterday, the High Commissioner of Cyprus in London said he was “disappointed” in Britain’s actions.
Kyriacos Kouros also said: “The French are coming. The least we expect is the Britons to also be present since, as I said, we are not only defending Cypriots on the islands.”
He did add the deployment of HMS Dragon was “welcome” - although it will take over a week to arrive.
Elsewhere, LBC understands the Ministry of Defence does not know whether the attack drone which hit air base RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on Sunday was sent from Lebanon or western Iraq.
The Shahed-type drone is also understood to have been flying so low and slowly that it evaded attention.
It is understood that Royal Navy Wildcat helicopters armed with Martlet drone-busting missiles, which are being deployed within days, would be able to detect drones similar to these in the future.
Previously Western officials refused to confirm where the drone, which hit the runway at Akrotiri on Monday, had come from. They only confirmed it had not been launched from Iran.
The HMS Dragon warship being readied to protect the British base in Cyprus is not expected to set sail until next week as it is being loaded with ammunition in Portsmouth before departing for the Mediterranean.
Officials said there was nothing that could have happened to ready a warship any earlier, amid questions over Britain's preparedness to protect its overseas bases.
Asked by journalists why there was no Type 45 destroyer sent to the region months ago during a US military build-up, they said increasingly fragile geopolitics with many different security threats made the situation complex.
HMS Dragon was chosen because it was the most ready for the mission, officials said.