Military training exercises carried out in coordination with US forces will be ongoing in the Nicosia flight information region (FIR), the defence ministry announced on Tuesday.

According to the announcement, the joint exercises will be carried out from Tuesday to Thursday. They will take place in the morning and afternoon hours and involve air and ground forces of the Republic’s national guard, as well as the US military.

Government sources clarified the British bases will have no part in this exercise, though no clear answers were given on whether this development was pre-planned or a result of escalating regional tensions.

A well-placed source said such exercises are usually planned well ahead of time, but the situation unfolding across the Middle East has meant an increased presence of US aircraft in the region.

Iran has said it will respond to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and as such there has been an increased flurry of military activity in the region.

According to Flightradar24, a Royal Canada Air Force flew into Paphos on Sunday and was due to depart on Tuesday.

In July the guided missile destroyers USS Arleigh Burke and USS Roosevelt of the US 6th Fleet operating in the Eastern Mediterranean reached Limassol Port.

The development comes as Germany prepares evacuations through Cyprus and the government has sought to clarify a controversy sparked after Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev said Tel Aviv could ask Cyprus for naval support should Israel be attacked.

The government has been at pains to distance itself from the matter, as Hezbollah threatened a few weeks ago it would consider Cyprus “a part of the war” if it continued to allow Israel to use its airports and bases for military exercises.

The Pentagon has confirmed the US military will deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the Middle East, as Washington seeks to bolster defences following threats from Iran and its allies Hamas and Hezbollah.

The US is deploying additional military might in the Middle East as a defensive measure with a goal of de-escalating tensions in the region, according to the White House after Haniye’s killing in Tehran.

Last week, the Washington Post reported the US sent 12 warships and aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt to the Middle East in preparation for a possible war between Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iran and Israel.