John Healey flew to Cyprus on Wednesday night to calm the diplomatic fallout over a drone that evaded detection and hit an RAF base, sparking fury from local ministers.
UK officials believe a drone that attacked an RAF base in Cyprus evaded detection by flying low and slow when it was launched by pro-Iran militia in Lebanon or western Iraq.
But an investigation has not been able to conclusively establish where the Shahed-type drone was launched from. The attack came during Iranian retaliatory bombing over the weekend after the United States and Israel launched a wave of attacks against Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Defense Secretary’s visit comes amid a backlash in Cyprus over the drone attack on RAF Akrotiri, which has led to the evacuation of families living on bases and the strengthening of their defences.
Sunday’s attack, and the other two intercepted later Monday morning, were likely launched by the Iranian-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah.
The drone, a cheaply made Iranian design, is used as a one-way attack vehicle. Although there were no injuries and damage was limited, the attack and the failure of the drone to prevent it from hitting the base has drawn the ire of the Cypriot government. The Cypriot defense minister met Healey on Wednesday morning in Nicosia.
The drone attack was the first against a British military installation on the island’s bases in 40 years. Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said the drone was launched before the United Kingdom announced on Sunday night that it would allow the United States to use two of its bases for defensive actions against Iran. American bombers do not use any RAF bases in Cyprus.
The Cypriot high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Kyriacos Kouros, said the country was “disappointed” by the British failure to warn the island’s population about the impending attack.
“Let’s say people are disappointed, scared, they might expect more,” he told BBC Newsnight. “More cooperation with the Ciro government to safeguard that these types of incidents do not occur again.”
On Monday, Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides openly criticized the failure to stop the drone and said the country had no intention of participating in any military operations.
“This is something we must say we view with dissatisfaction,” the president’s spokesman, Konstantinos Letymbiotis, said on Tuesday, adding that “there was no clear clarification that British bases in Cyprus would not under any circumstances be used for any purpose other than humanitarian reasons in the UK prime minister’s statement on Sunday.”
He added: “All necessary measures will be taken to communicate our dissatisfaction, both at the way in which this message was communicated and at the fact that yesterday there was no timely warning to citizens of Cyprus living near the Akrotiri bases.”
The UK has sent a Royal Navy destroyer, HMS Dragon, which is expected to arrive in Cyprus next week, along with two Wildcat helicopters with anti-drone capabilities. Defense sources said the Wildcats would improve the ability to detect and intercept the type of low-flying drones that evaded detection Sunday night.
Both France and Greece have deployed military support to the country, including F-16 fighter jets and anti-missile and anti-drone systems. Families have been evacuated from RAF Akrotiri and several other areas, and are expected to remain away from the base for some time.
