Cyprus will be used as the launchpad by the British Royal Air Force for assistance it plans to provide to Saudi Arabia in its war with Yemen’s Houthi movement, according to reports on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia requested British assistance after the Houthis expanded their control over Yemen’s west coast and launched fresh bombing raids on Saudi oil infrastructure.
The British government confirmed on Tuesday morning that it will “provide additional defensive military support” to Saudi Arabia “following renewed Houthi attacks and escalating violence in the region”.
It said that that support will be offered in the form of an RAF Voyager air-to-air refuelling aircraft, which will “support Saudi defensive activity in support of the legitimate government of Yemen”,
On this front, it stressed that “escalating tensions in the Gulf can have a serious impact at home in the UK”, pointing to increasing prices on consumer goods, as well as “disruption to energy supplies, and extra costs for British businesses”.
It also characterised the Houthi movement as “a dangerous threat to regional stability in the Middle East”, and said that as such, “it is in the UK’s national economic and security interest that they do not succeed”.
Meanwhile, British newspaper the Financial Times reported that the support offered to Saudi Arabia will operate “from a UK base in Cyprus”, with it likely that the Akrotiri air force base near Limassol will therefore form the launchpad for it.
The Cyprus Mail has contacted the British defence ministry over the question of whether Cyprus will be the launchpad for the support and was told that the ministry will not “provide commentary on operational detail”.
Houthis now control eastern side of Bab al-Mandab strait
Akrotiri itself was hit by an Iranian-made drone on March 2, prompting President Nikos Christodoulides to promise upon his arrival a European Council summit later that month that “we are going to have an open and frank discussion with the British government” over the future of the bases, heavily hinting that he would like to see them abolished.
The support offered for Saudi Arabia comes after the Houthis took control of almost the entire western coast of Yemen, including the eastern half of the Bab al-Mandab strait, a crucial chokepoint between the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, thereby wrestling control of that chokepoint from the Saudi-backed government of Yemen.
Around five per cent of global oil supplies passed through the Bab al-Mandab strait in February, typically passing northwards towards the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean beyond.
In addition, Saudi Arabia’s east-west oil pipeline, which at its peak can transport 3.6 million barrels per day and allow the oil to avoid both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandab strait, has been attacked by drones, which the Saudi Arabian government said had been launched by Iran-backed forces in Iraq.
This damage to oil infrastructure has also caused the price of fuel to rise in Cyprus, with the price of diesel reaching €2 per litre this week, and the price of petrol hovering at around €1.68 per litre.
Click here to change your cookie preferences