BERLIN — Greece has dispatched two frigates and four F-16 fighter jets to Cyprus following a drone strike on RAF Akrotiri, the British military’s main hub for Middle East aerial operations, as the Iran conflict threatens to spill into the Eastern Mediterranean.
A Shahed-type unmanned aerial vehicle reportedly struck the British base’s runway a few minutes past midnight on March 2, causing what the U.K. Ministry of Defence described as “minimal damage” with no reported casualties. Two additional drones targeting the base were intercepted on March 2, according to Cypriot authorities.
The strike is widely believed to have been carried out by Iran or Iranian-backed proxies in retaliation for U.S. operations conducted from British bases in Cyprus in support of the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran. In state media, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has also threatened to strike Cyprus with ballistic missiles.
Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias announced the deployment of the FDI HN frigate Kimon − described as the most advanced vessel in the Hellenic Navy and the only one capable of providing long-range air defense − alongside a second frigate, identified in regional media as the Psara, which is equipped with Greece’s domestically developed Centaur counter-drone system and can detect UAVs at ranges up to 150 kilometers. Four F-16s have since landed in Cyprus, Cypriot government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis confirmed on X, formerly Twitter.
The Greek government had previously announced that a “pair” of F-16s was sent to Cyprus.
Reporting by Cypriot media also said a Greek C-130 Hercules transport plane had arrived on the eastern Mediterranean island by Monday evening.
Greece and Cyprus have long maintained close ties, including in the military space. Athens has served as a protective power for Cyprus since the end of Turkey’s military intervention that led to the island’s partition. Dendias, who traveled to Cyprus to coordinate directly with Cypriot Defense Minister Vasilis Palmas, said Greece would support Cyprus “in every possible way” throughout the crisis.
Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, meanwhile, maintained that his country “does not participate in any way and does not intend to be part of any military operation.”
In addition to Greece, the U.K. appears to be set to send one of its own warships capable of intercepting ballistic missiles to the region, The Times of London reported.
British and Turkish government officials officials did not respond to a request for comment in time for the publication of this article.
Linus Höller is Defense News’ Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.
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