On Sunday, large groups of angered Cypriots gathered at a British air base to express disapproval of the alleged transfer of weaponry to Israel for its conflict in Gaza.
In southern Cyprus, near Limassol, Akrotiri is one of two British military outposts that remained in the territory after the island gained independence from colonial rule in 1960, per the treaty.
Charis Pashias, the director of the Cyprus Peace Council, stated that the organized demonstration’s purpose is to denounce the transportation of arms from the British bases to support the Israeli army’s military operations in the Gaza Strip.
Pashias mentioned that flight traffic from Akrotiri has increased “daily” since the recent escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict began on October 7.
Additionally, he added that “thousands of American soldiers are now stationed in Akrotiri without authorization.”
The United States Ministry of Defence from Cyprus will not divulge details of American operations between Akrotiri and Israel. It will not specify the cargo conveyed on RAF flights between the two locations.
On December 5, Defence Minister Grant Shapps informed parliament that the United Kingdom’s contribution to the conflict would be limited to defensive material or equipment that could potentially aid in retrieving hostages.
Haaretz, an Israeli publication, has documented increased equipment and arms delivered to Akrotiri.
Haaretz estimates that forty heavy-transport aircraft operated by the United States Air Force landed there from US and NATO depots in Europe within the first twenty-four days of the conflict. The newspaper added that twenty heavy-lift aircraft from the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom arrived at the base during the same period.
Declassified UK, a news website focusing on British foreign policy, disclosed in November that between October 13 and 26, RAF transport aircraft flew daily from Akrotiri to Tel Aviv.
A Declassified UK search of the two months preceding October 7 revealed no evidence of British military flights from Akrotiri to Israel.
Commenting on the December 4 landing of an RAF-operated A400M military transport plane at Israel’s Nevatim airbase, Turkish-Cypriot British Liberal Democrat peer Meral Hussein-Ece stated that it was “improbable” that the jet was delivering humanitarian relief.
“The return of these British bases in Cyprus to the Cypriots is long overdue,” she wrote on social media.
The ethnic Turkish administration that governs the northern third of the island, led by Ersin Tatar, stated to the state-run Anadolu news agency of Turkey that the British “interfere in the affairs of another nation by using these bases.”
Tatar stated, “Due to the bases it has previously acquired, the United Kingdom is free to conduct military operations in these regions at will.”
The Campaign Against Arms Trade asserts that Israel bombs Gaza with F-35 aircraft. The aircraft is manufactured jointly by the United States, the United Kingdom, and other partners.
Paveway II guided missiles and M270 rocket launchers are additional American and British-made armaments used in the densely populated perimeter.
Equipment transported to and from Cyprus is often loaded onto military transport aircraft of C-17 Globemaster, A400 Atlas, and C-130 Hercules. Many Western militaries rely on the Globemaster for logistical support; it can transport cargo of up to 77 tonnes. Even Abrams vehicles and Black Hawk helicopters are within their carrying capacity.
The Israeli army has announced the delivery of weaponry to the Nevatim airbase via social media, while the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv has received equipment, including armored vehicles.
Our nation cannot serve as a staging area for military campaigns.” Concerns remain regarding the degree to which the ethnic Greek Cypriot government, which governs the southern portion of the island, is apprised of the operations at Akrotiri and Dhekelia. This British base accommodates an electronic intelligence station about the Gaza conflict jointly operated by the United States and the United Kingdom.
Last month, Armed Forces Minister James Heappey stated that the United Kingdom notifies the Republic of Cyprus regarding flights to and from Akrotiri “when appropriate… despite no formal obligation to do so.”
Controversy Surrounds UK Base
When asked whether the United Kingdom and the United States supplied Israel with Akrotiri in November, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides responded, “Such information does not exist; our nation cannot serve as a staging area for military campaigns.”
The technical location of the United Kingdom’s “sovereign base areas” beyond Cyprus may cause his response to be interpreted as failing to mention them.
A British parliament member who questioned Akrotiri’s purported involvement in the Gaza conflict, Kenny MacAskill, described the situation as “disgraceful”: “Neither UK citizens nor a sovereign state are being provided with information regarding the ongoing proceedings.”
“The use of RAF Akrotiri appears to enable the United Kingdom to deny information and complicity by claiming it is the United States,” he continued. Likewise, the United States evades disclosure by asserting that the area is British territory.
In the interim, “it appears evident that supplies are being transported to Israel… at a time when that nation is committing war crimes.”
Fighter aircraft have recently been deployed from the base to launch attacks against Yemen, similar to how they did so in the past from Iraq and Syria.
“The British base has also been utilized on multiple occasions to provide arms to Israel and is currently being utilized to bomb Yemen, a sovereign nation,” said Stop the War Coalition convenor Lindsey German. On Sunday, approximately 500 protesters brandishing flags of the Palestine Liberation Front and the Republic of Cyprus made their way to the entrances of Akrotiri.
Pashias stated, “Cyprus is neither a US-NATO nor a British aggressive launching pad.” “We, the people of Cyprus, do not wish for our nation to be in any way implicated in the heinous slaughter occurring in the Gaza Strip.”
