In the first hour of the morning of Monday, March 2, the British military base of Akrotiri near Limassol was hit by a drone. Presumably it was an Iranian Shahed drone
136. According to Phileleftheros
, residents of the Akrotiri peninsula woke up after a deafening explosion. Sirens wailed and military planes began to take off from the air base one after another.
According to British authorities, no one was injured and the base suffered minor material damage. Residents of Akrotiri were urged to stay in a safe place, move away from windows and take shelter behind or under solid, solid furniture until further notice. Some residents left their homes and went to the Limassol Central Hospital, following the advice of the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides.
Fighter planes, reconnaissance planes and refueling planes were scrambled into the air. Around 3:30 a.m., a source told Offsite that British bases had downgraded their alert level from red to yellow and the sirens had stopped sounding.
The strike came just over an hour after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced he would allow the US to use British military bases to destroy Iranian missile storage sites and launchers.
Starmer said London took the decision "to prevent Iran from launching missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, threatening British lives and targeting countries not involved in the conflict."
“The competent authorities have immediately activated the necessary security protocols and are monitoring the situation in constant coordination with the UK Government and British base authorities. The National Security Council is permanently chaired by the President of the Republic. Additional information will be provided later, the head of the press service of the government of the Republic of Cyprus, Konstantinos Letimbiotis, said on his page in X.
Photo from the Cyprus archive
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Agency
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Typhoon fighter takes off from Akrotiri base on February 14, 2022
