Britain is not at war, the government said Monday, despite saying it would allow the U.S. to use British bases during its war with Iran and after a Royal Air Force base in Cyprus was struck by an Iranian-made drone.
Sirens sounded again at RAF Akrotiri on Monday and British warplanes were scrambled, apparently in response to a new threat.
More than two decades after Britain followed the United States into a devastating war in Iraq, it is trying to avoid being drawn into a new Middle East conflict with unpredictable consequences. U.K. officials say an attack drone hit the runway at RAF Akrotiri, a British air force base in Cyprus, late Sunday. There were no injuries and “minimal” damage, but the strike brought the conflict onto European soil.
It was not immediately clear whether the drone was launched from Iran or by a Tehran-backed militant group such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Some 12 hours later, sirens sounded again as two Typhoon fighter jets and a pair of F-35 warplanes roared into the air. An area resident showed to The Associated Press a text message sent from base authorities warning of an “ongoing security threat” and urging people to stay indoors and away from windows. The Cypriot government said two drones headed for Cyprus were intercepted on Monday.
Akrotiri is the U.K.´s main air base for operations in the Middle East and in recent years has been used by British warplanes on missions against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq and to strike Houthi targets in Yemen.
Britain retained the base, and another on Cyprus, after the eastern Mediterranean island gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960.
It was previously attacked in 1986, when Libyan militants struck the base with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms, injuring three people.
As tensions between the U.S. and Iran mounted, Britain last month deployed extra F-35 fighter jets to Akrotiri, along with radar, counter-drone systems and air defenses, as part of “defensive measures.”
Britain´s defense ministry said Monday that families of U.K. personnel who live on the base were being moved to nearby accommodation as a precaution.
British officials have refused to say whether the U.K. supports the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. They have said that Iran should not be able to have a nuclear weapon and called for an end to Iranian strikes and a diplomatic solution.