Newsroom
A senior Cypriot government official says the drone that struck the British airbase at RAF Akrotiri earlier this week appears to have been launched from Beirut, raising fresh concerns about Cyprus being pulled closer into the widening conflict in the Middle East.
According to the report by Politico, the drone, described as a Shahed-type unmanned aircraft, hit the Royal Air Force base shortly after midnight on Monday. Additional drone attacks targeting the base later the same day were intercepted before reaching their target.
Officials believe the drone may be linked to the militant group Hezbollah, which operates out of Beirut and is considered one of Iran’s main regional allies.
The incident has revived concerns about warnings made in the past by Hezbollah leadership. In June 2024, the group’s then secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, warned that Cyprus could become a target if Israel used facilities on the island to launch military operations against Hezbollah.
That warning, issued months before Nasrallah’s death, is now being viewed in a new light following the strike on the British base.
The drone attack marks one of the most direct spillovers of the regional conflict onto Cypriot territory so far, although the British base operates separately from the Republic of Cyprus under long-standing international agreements. Still, the incident has heightened security concerns across the island and raised questions about how vulnerable Cyprus may be as tensions continue to spread across the region.
*Source: Politico
