Nicosia wants European partners to step up in defense of the Mediterranean island, as Iranian drones menace the region.
France will send anti-missile and anti-drone systems to Cyprus, as the U.S.-Israel-Iran war heightens tensions in the Middle East, two senior Cypriot government officials told POLITICO on Tuesday.
French President Emmanuel Macron — who is also sending a frigate to Cyprus — communicated the intention to Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides earlier Tuesday. The French armed forces ministry declined to comment.
Christodoulides also requested that Berlin deploy a frigate during a phone conversation Monday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The chancellor responded positively, and a formal decision from Berlin is expected imminently, according to the officials. Christodoulides is also discussing similar options with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Greece has already ordered the deployment of a military force to Cyprus following drone incursions on the Mediterranean island Monday that have, for the first time, dragged an EU member country into the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, which has sparked massive regional retaliatory attacks from Tehran.
Four of Greece’s F-16 fighter jets are already placed in Paphos, a coastal city in southwest Cyprus, while two frigates — one equipped with its anti-drone Centauros jamming system — are deployed to the island.
A Shahed-type unmanned aerial vehicle hit Britain’s Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri in Cyprus in the early hours of Monday, while more drone strikes targeting the base were intercepted later in the day. Akrotiri and the nearby villages remain evacuated.
French Rafale fighter jets flew over the UAE this weekend as part of “sky security operations,” French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said Tuesday, after a naval base in Abu Dhabi was hit by an Iranian drone attack over the weekend.
Laura Kayali contributed to this report.