Cyprus Mail 19 January 2024 - by Tom Cleaver
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| UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps |
British Defence Minister Grant Shapps is to travel to Cyprus on Friday.
He is set to be received by President Nikos Christodoulides at the Presidential palace, with new Cypriot Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas also set to be in attendance.
The visit is Shapps’ first to the island since his country began bombing Yemen using its Akrotiri base last week.
Shapps had announced the bombing and the use of Akrotiri to do so via a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, posting a video of a Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft taking off from Cyprus.
The strikes had been aimed at positions held by the Houthi movement, a Shia Islamist organisation allegedly backed by Iran which controls much of the west of Yemen and has been attacking ships passing through the Red Sea in response to the west’s support for Israel.
His colleague, British Armed Forces Minister James Heappey, had later said the bombs had “successfully” hit their targets, and that all the aircraft had safely returned to Akrotiri.
Shapps’ most recent visit to the island came in December, when he travelled to Akrotiri to meet staff on the bases.
Regarding that trip, he told the British parliament that his country’s objectives “include to demonstrate and reaffirm the UK’s continued support for Israel.”
“The RAF bases in Cyprus are a very useful asset. They are being used, for example, to provide support to our military in the area,” he added.
