The drone strike on RAF Akrotiri today caused limited physical damage, but it has thrust Cyprus back into the spotlight as a vulnerable bystander in Middle Eastern geopolitical tensions — and revived memories of one of the darkest chapters in the bases’ history.
Forty years ago, as now, the British bases became a target for retaliation against Britain’s military involvement in the region. In April 1986, US aircraft had taken off from Akrotiri to bomb Libya as part of Operation El Dorado Canyon — Washington’s retaliatory strikes against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, which President Ronald Reagan publicly blamed for the bombing of a discotheque in West Berlin.
The blowback came swiftly. On 3 August 1986, gunmen linked to the Gaddafi regime fired Katyusha rockets and mortars at the Ladies Mile area and the base’s sailing club. The United Nasserist National Organisation, a Libya-based group, claimed responsibility. Three people were wounded, including two British servicewomen, and several buildings were damaged before the attackers escaped. It was the first attack ever recorded against a British military installation.
The parallel with this week’s events is striking. Then as now, the strikes came as a direct consequence of Britain’s entanglement in a Middle Eastern conflict. Then as now, the base — the RAF’s largest outside Britain — was caught in the crossfire of a confrontation in which Cyprus had no part.
The difference lies in the technology. The Katyusha rockets and mortars of 1986 have given way to drones, which offer attackers far greater precision and a far lower risk of detection.
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