Cyprus ‘to be launchpad’ for UK assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war with Houthis

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. 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…