Cyprus upgrades key bases with US funds to boost Middle East relief

Published on 20/04/2026 - 11:09 GMT+2

Cyprus is upgrading 2 cardinal subject installations with US backing to reenforce its relation arsenic a humanitarian harmless haven for evacuees from conflicts successful the Middle East, officials said.

The Andreas Papandreou Air Base successful Paphos volition beryllium expanded to see a caller parking apron susceptible of accommodating dozens of heavy-lift subject transport aircraft, allowing faster refuelling and attraction during large-scale humanitarian operations.

The Evangelos Florakis naval basal astatine Mari, 229 kilometres from Lebanon's coast, volition person a caller US European Command-funded heliport susceptible of accommodating ample Chinook transport helicopters to airlift evacuees from struggle zones.

The US has provided €500,000 for a improvement program to find the wide outgo of the aerial basal expansion, Lt Col Paris Samoutis, a Cyprus National Guard spokesperson, told the Associated Press. Exact backing for some projects has not been released arsenic outgo assessments continue.

Work is expected to commencement successful 2027, according to Cyprus Defence Minister Vasilis Palmas. The aerial basal upgrades could outgo astir €14 million, portion the naval basal task whitethorn transcend €200 million, with Cyprus seeking further EU backing for the latter.

Cyprus has carved retired a strategical relation arsenic the closest EU subordinate authorities to situation zones successful the Middle East, acting arsenic a transit constituent for humanitarian evacuations and assistance shipments.

In 2006, the land facilitated the evacuation of astir 30,000 radical from Lebanon during the Israel-Hezbollah war. In April 2023, it served arsenic a transit constituent for evacuating third-country nationals from Sudan. In 2024, it deployed the Amalthea maritime corridor to vessel thousands of tonnes of humanitarian assistance to Gaza, initially straight and aboriginal done Israel's Ashdod port.

In June 2025, erstwhile the US and Israel struck Iran's atomic facilities, Cyprus again acted arsenic a waystation for radical leaving Israel and for Israelis stranded overseas to instrumentality home.

The US deployed a Marine contingent with V-22 Osprey tiltrotor craft to Paphos Air Base successful 2024 to assistance with imaginable evacuations from Lebanon.

Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides has made wide that the country's subject installations volition beryllium restricted to humanitarian operations and volition not beryllium utilized for violative subject action.

Bilateral subject practice betwixt EU subordinate Cyprus and the US has grown successful caller years. In January 2025, experts from the 435th Contingency Response Group, based astatine Germany's Ramstein, conducted an infrastructure appraisal astatine Andreas Papandreou Air Base.

"Events successful Sudan, Lebanon, Israel and Gaza successful 2023 and 2024 demonstrated the criticality of the Republic of Cyprus arsenic a information spouse successful the eastbound Mediterranean," said US Army Col Kenneth Evans, elder defence attache astatine the US Embassy successful Nicosia, successful January 2025.

The upgrades are portion of a broader programme to heighten some bases' capableness to enactment large-scale humanitarian responses.

Cyprus besides sought backing done the EU's SAFE programme, which offers €1.18 cardinal to amended defence readiness and infrastructure crossed EU subordinate states, repayable implicit 45 years.