Crowds of angry Cypriots gathered at a British air base on Sunday to protest against the alleged shipment of weapons to Israel for its brutal war in Gaza.
Akrotiri, near Limassol in southern Cyprus, is one of two military sites retained by the British Army under the 1960 treaty that allowed the island to gain independence from colonial rule.
“The demonstration against the British base in Akrotiri is organized to condemn the transport of weapons from British bases to support the military operations of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip,” said Charis Pashias, head of the Cyprus Peace Council.
Since the latest escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict began on October 7, locals have seen a “daily” increase in the number of flights from Akrotiri, Pashias said.
The base is about a 40-minute flight from Tel Aviv.
People have also “become aware of the illegal presence of thousands of American soldiers now stationed in Akrotiri,” he added.
The British Ministry of Defense has published some information about RAF flights between Akrotiri and Israel, but refuses to specify what is being transported and will not reveal details of American activity from Cyprus.
Defense Minister Grant Shapps told Parliament on December 5 that the UK would provide “only defensive material or material that could assist in the recovery of hostages” during the conflict.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported an increase in the delivery of equipment and weapons to Akrotiri.
According to Haaretz, some 40 heavy transport aircraft operated by the US Air Force landed there during the first 24 days of the war from US and NATO depots in Europe. Another 20 heavy aircraft from the British Royal Air Force arrived at the base during the same period, the newspaper added.
Declassified UK, a news website focused on British foreign policy, revealed in November that RAF transport planes flew daily from Akrotiri to Tel Aviv between October 13 and 26.
For the two months leading up to 7 October, Declassified UK found no record of British military flights from Akrotiri to Israel.
Commenting on an A400M military transport plane operated by the RAF that landed at Israel's Nevatim air base on December 4, Meral Hussein-Ece, a British Liberal Democrat peer of Turkish-Cypriot origin, suggested it was “unlikely “The plane was delivering humanitarian aid.”
“It is a long time since these British bases in Cyprus were returned to the Cypriots,” he posted on social media.
Ersin Tatar, who heads the ethnic Turkish administration that runs the northern third of the island, told Turkey's state news agency Anadolu that the British “interfere in another country's affairs using these bases.”
“Thanks to the bases it acquired in the past, the United Kingdom can carry out military operations in these regions as it pleases,” Tatar said.
According to the Campaign Against Arms Trade, Israel uses F-35 aircraft to bomb Gaza. The aircraft is jointly produced by the United States, the United Kingdom and other partners.
Other weapons used in the densely populated strip and involving American and British production are the M270 rocket launchers and Paveway II guided missiles.
Equipment transported to and from Cyprus is frequently transported aboard C-17 Globemaster, A400 Atlas and C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft. The Globemaster is the logistical backbone of many Western armies and can carry loads of up to 77 tons. It is capable of carrying Black Hawk helicopters and even Abrams tanks.
Social media posts from the Israeli military show the delivery of weapons to Nevatim air base, while Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport received equipment, including armored vehicles.
“Our country cannot be used as a base for war operations”
Meanwhile, there are also questions about the extent to which the ethnic Greek Cypriot government, which controls the southern territory of the island, is being kept informed about how Akrotiri and Dhekelia, the British base that houses a US-UK electronic intelligence station United Kingdom, are being used in Gaza. war.
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said last month that Britain informs the Republic of Cyprus about flights to and from Akrotiri “where appropriate… although there is no formal requirement to do so”.
When asked in November about Britain and the United States supplying Israel from Akrotiri, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said: “There is no such information, our country cannot be used as a base for war operations.”
However, as the UK's “sovereign support bases” are technically outside Cyprus, your answer could be interpreted as not referring to them.
Kenny MacAskill, a British MP who has raised questions in parliament about Akrotiri's alleged role in the Gaza war, said it was “shameful” that “both UK citizens and a sovereign state are being denied information about what is being done.”
He added: “The use of RAF Akrotiri appears to allow the UK to deny information and complicity by claiming to be the US. “In the same way, the United States avoids disclosure by saying that it is the territory of the United Kingdom.”
Meanwhile, “it seems clear that supplies… are being transported to Israel… when that country is perpetrating war crimes.”
In recent days, the base has also been used to launch fighter jets attacking Yemen, as has already been done in Iraq and Syria.
“The British base has been used repeatedly to supply weapons to Israel and now to bomb Yemen, a sovereign country,” said Lindsey German, coordinator of the Stop War Coalition. Around 500 protesters carrying Palestinian and Republic of Cyprus flags marched to the gates of Akrotiri on Sunday.
“Cyprus is not an aggressive launching pad for the United States and NATO or Britain,” Pashias said. “We, the Cypriot people, do not want our country to be involved in any way in the bloody massacre taking place in the Gaza Strip.
