UK, France send warships, air defense assets to Cyprus after drone attack | Israel-Iran conflict news

The British government says the United Kingdom is deploying warships and helicopters to Cyprus, amid growing global concern over deadly US-Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory Iranian attacks across the region.

The UK Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday it was sending HMS Dragon to the eastern Mediterranean, along with two Wildcat helicopters, to “enhance drone protection for our Cypriot partners”.

HMS Dragon, one of the Royal Navy’s six Type-45 air defense destroyers, is equipped with a Sea Viper missile system that can launch eight missiles in 10 seconds and guide up to 16 missiles simultaneously, the ministry said in a statement.

In a social media post announcing the deployment, UK Prime Minister Keir Stormer said the country was “fully committed to the security of Cyprus and British military personnel”.

“We will always act in the interests of the UK and our allies,” he wrote in X.

Later on Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron ordered the evacuation of France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean. Charles de Gaulle was escorted by its air wing and its escort warships, he said.

In a pre-recorded speech on French TV, Macron added that Rafale fighter jets, air defense systems and airborne radar systems had been deployed in the Middle East in the past few hours.

“And we will continue this effort as long as necessary,” Macron said. Cyprus and France recently signed a strategic partnership agreement, he said, referring to Monday’s strike on a British airbase in Cyprus.

“It needs our support. That is why I have decided to send additional air defense assets there with the French warship, the Languedoc, which will arrive this evening off the coast of Cyprus,” Macron said.

Iran attack

The announcements came a day after the Cypriot government and the British Ministry of Defense said a surprise attack by an Iranian-made drone targeting the Royal Air Force Base in Akrotiri, southwest of the Cypriot coastal city of Limassol.

The country’s president, Nicos Christodoulides, said the Shahed-type unmanned aerial vehicle caused minor damage when it crashed into military facilities early Monday.

Reporting from outside the base, Al Jazeera’s John Psaropoulos said about 1,000 residents had been evacuated from their homes as authorities worked to put emergency procedures in place.

“There are no sirens, for example. There is no way to warn people of incoming air strikes,” he said. “They are trying to use all means of transport such as local municipality buses and other vehicles to transport people in case of another airstrike.”

Iran has fired missiles and drones at several countries in and around the Middle East in response to attacks by the US and Israel, which began bombing Iran on Saturday amid international efforts to reach a deal on Iran’s nuclear program.

According to the Iranian Red Crescent Society, US-Israeli strikes across Iran have killed at least 787 people since the conflict began, while Tehran has targeted several targets in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other countries.

British armed forces have helped shoot down multiple drones across the region in the past 24 hours, according to the Ministry of Defence, including in Jordan, Iraq and Qatar.

Stormer initially denied having any role in the US-Israeli war with Iran, but later agreed to a request by US President Donald Trump’s administration to use two British military bases “for a specific and limited defensive purpose”.

Stormer insists those bases are in Gloucestershire in western England and the UK-US Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean, and the Akrotiri base in Cyprus is not being used by US bombers.