Defence Secretary John Healey spoke to the Daily Mirror during a quick visit to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus which was hit by an Iran-backed terror drone as war got underway
British Defence Secretary John Healey has refused to dismiss concerns UK forces will be further drawn into the US and Israel – Iran war.
It came as he was forced to take cover as another alert went off during a visit to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and he was twice made to shelter from possible ‘incoming.’ Asked to address worries in the UK about UK involvement and a possible heightened terror threat he said: “I certainly won’t speculate about situations that we might see.
“It is the nature of conflict that you never know what might develop and we are hugely strengthening our defences.”
Mr Healey spoke to the Mirror during a quick visit to RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus which was hit by an Iran-backed terror drone as war got underway. On Thursday RAF Akrotiri was sent into full alert mode as air raid sirens went off a worrying three times – twice during Healey’s visit.
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He said he was about to attend a COBRA meeting online when the alert went off at Akrotiri. He explained: “I was already in a windowless room getting an operational briefing ahead of that meeting and the air raid signal went off.
“It’s a reminder of the increasing and the increasingly indiscriminate threat that Iran poses as we have seen with their first retaliatory poses.”
One of the problems for Akrotiri is that it is protected but it is difficult to pick up small incoming drones that dodge radar, even though not by design. And being an island the incoming is low flying over water which adds to the challenge of detecting small objects.
Mr Healey said more forces are on their way as Akrotiri becomes the focus of efforts to protect UK forces from spillover attacks by Iran. He told the Mirror that “specialist air defence planners” have arrived at RAF Akrotiri in the days following the attack by pro Iranian militia in Lebanon or Iraq.
Investigators are still, according to sources, unsure which fired the drone which hit an Akrotiri aircraft hangar. It has become increasingly alarming because smaller drones sent by Hezbollah or Iraqi militia loyal to the Iranian regime are difficult to track.
Another 400 troops, some specialists in monitoring the air for incoming weapons, have arrived in recent days, with the latest addition arriving on Thursday. The Mirror demanded from Mr Healey that he send a message of comfort or encouragement to people in the UK alarmed by the onset of another Middle Eastern conflict.
He nodded and answered: “I really get the concerns of folks at home. This is my concern as well as protecting the lives of British military personnel in places like her in Cyprus and also the island of Cyprus.
“We have strengthened it with extra forces in terms of size. There are 400 more personnel here now and they are defending more than just this island as they help protect British lives at other locations in the Middle East.
“We will be doing all that we can to protect people from these indiscriminate attacks that we are seeing from Iran.”
