The Cypriot government had “consistently” warned that the United Kingdom’s bases on the island could be a target in the event of a conflict in the region, Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said on Sunday.

“We’ve consistently communicated that the bases could be a target if things move in a specific direction regionally,” he told British newspaper the Guardian, adding, “this is a concern we shared consistently”.

However, he said, “the outcome of those conversations is clear in terms of what transpired on Sunday night”, with the Akrotiri air force base, near Limassol, having been hit by an Iranian-made drone shortly after midnight last Monday.

“Not everything that could be done was done to the level of expectations that we have, that people working in the bases, Cypriots, also have, and I’m sure the British government has as well … But right now, I want to focus on how cooperation improves,” he said.

His comments come in the aftermath of a protest being held in Nicosia demanding the removal of the British bases, which were never ceded to the Republic of Cyprus when the island was given independence from the British Empire in 1960.

President Nikos Christodoulides had on Friday said that “nothing has been ruled out” regarding the bases’ future in the aftermath of the drone strike, while other political circles on the island have openly expressed their discontent at the bases’ continued operation.

Akel, for example, had said last week that the drone strike “confirms the dangers which exist for Cyprus and our people due to the presence” of the British bases on the island.

“In any case, the demand of our people for the dissolution of the British bases from our island once again proves to be both timely and timeless,” it added.

Opposition to the bases’ existence is bicommunal, too, with Turkish Cypriot opposition political party CTP deputy leader Asim Akansoy having said on Tuesday that the UK’s continued possession of two sovereign bases on the island is “a great mistake of history”.

Throughout the week, the UK has sought to bolster its defence of its bases on the island, and has to this end sent two AW159 Wildcat helicopters, armed with anti-drone missiles, to Cyprus, while the HMS Dragon Type 45 destroyer warship also expected to depart from Portsmouth within the coming days.

Since then, Starmer has confirmed that Cyprus, and more specifically Akrotiri, has been used as the launchpad for missions aimed at engaging and shooting down drones fired from Iran.

Those operations are being led by F-35 fighter jets, which have been stationed in Cyprus since last month.

With the amount of military hardware on the island and in its vicinity increasing, Starmer had said last Thursday that “I want to be really clear to everybody in Cyprus that we’re taking every measure that is needed to protect them, to protect the airbase, along with the other places in the region”.

Then, on Sunday morning, the BBC reported that the UK is considering sending an aircraft carrier in the island’s direction, quoting “defence sources” as having said that the crew of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has been given notice that the ship must set sail from Portsmouth in five days.

In addition to military hardware, the UK also sent its Defence Secretary John Healey to the island. He held a meeting with his Cypriot counterpart Vasilis Palmas, before promising that “top experts” had arrived on the island “to help coordinate the air defences”.

He also offered a “thank you” to the British forces stationed on the island “on behalf of the proud British people, and the British government, and for the islanders of Cyprus, for their role in keeping them safe”.