RAF base in Cyprus hit by drone strike, Ministry of Defence says

It has been further reported that there were no casualties in the incident at the base near Limassol, Cyprus. 

However, the base is to temporarily relocate its non-essential staff, the Ministry of Defence have said.

The UK government has not yet confirmed where the drone originated from, per Sky News. 

It was the first attack on the RAF base since a rocket attack by Libyan militants in 1986.

A MoD spokesperson said earlier: “Our armed forces are responding to a suspected drone strike at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus at midnight local time.

“Our force protection in the region is at the highest level, and the base has responded to defend our people.

“This is a live situation, and further information will be provided in due course.”

Cyprus’s President Nikos Christodoulides has since said authorities are on full alert after the drone strike. 

However, he reiterated that the territory “⁠does not participate ⁠in any way and does ‌not intend to be part of any ‌military operation”.

The armed forces were reinforcing their Cyprus bases with extra resources, such as counter-drone systems, F-35 fighter jets, and radar systems.

The MoD explained that the additional capabilities were for defensive measures only, mainly detecting and defeating airborne threats. 

The drone involved is believed to have been small, per Sky News.

The suspected strike came just hours after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK had allowed the US to strike Iranian missile sites from select British bases, which are believed to be RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, Cyprus and Diego Garcia in the disputed Chagos Islands.

The Liberal Democrats have 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”.