RAF Akrotiri turns 70: What we can learn from seven decades of imperialist violence from the British military base on Cyprus.
RAF Akrotiri, the British military base on Cyprus, turns 70 on the 1st of July 2025. I take a look back at seven decades of this base’s facilitation of imperialism.
By: Nuvpreet Kalra
For 70 years, RAF Akrotiri has been, in the words of the British Ministry of Defence itself, “more than just a strategic staging post in the Mediterranean”. The colonial base on Cyprus has facilitated the violence of the Anglo-American empire, from the Tripartite Aggression, to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people, to attacks on Iran. The base has been used for seven decades for surveillance, weapons transfers, and as a launchpad for attacks. It has granted the United States an easy and wholly unaccountable foothold in the region from which it has been able to project its imperialist power through intelligence gathering and bombings. On its 70th anniversary, we demand that the deadly colonial base of RAF Akrotiri be shut down.
1878 - 1955
Cyprus was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1878, when it became a British Protectorate, as part of the Cyprus Convention. Here, it acted as a key node in the British Empire's extraction routes. Cyprus was located in convenient proximity between India, the Suez Canal, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Between 1914 and 1925, it was annexed by the British and used as a naval hub during the first World War. In 1925, it became an official British Crown Colony.
1955-60
In July 1955, five years before the end of formal British colonial rule of Cyprus, 30 Royal Air Force (RAF) soldiers were posted to Akrotiri, a short peninsula on the southernmost tip of the island. They were sent to establish a facility to ease the crowding of RAF Nicosia, a military base in the northeast of the island that was in use until 1966.
Early on, RAF Akrotiri was configured as the storage and launch site for British nuclear weapons. In 1957, British Canberra nuclear-striking fighter jets arrived at Akrotiri, and just three years later, they had built facilities to store 16 Red Beards, Britain’s first nuclear bomb. Two Vulcan bomber squadrons were also deployed to Akrotiri. Aware of the likely reaction from the Cypriots, one RAF official wrote that “all possible measures should be taken in Cyprus to conceal the arrival and storage of [nuclear] bombs”. Without any noise, these were ultimately removed in 1975 in response to the Greek-Turkish war, and nuclear weapons haven’t been known to have returned since. Though as Britain moves to buy 12 F-35A nuclear-capable fighter jets equipped with American nuclear bombs, perhaps this run will end.
RAF Akrotiri was critical in the Suez Crisis, or Tripartite Aggression, of 1956, when Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt to attack President Nasser’s opposition to Zionist colonisation and end the nationalisation of Egypt’s Suez Canal, seeking to retain their colonial control. British and French military flights took off on average every minute from RAF Akrotiri to bomb and drop paratroopers over Egypt. It was also a central point for reconnaissance. After Britain’s loss of the Suez Canal Zone, the Middle East Command, which coordinated British land, air, and naval forces in the West Asia/Eastern Mediterranean region, was moved from Egypt to Cyprus. The significance of Cyprus’ proximity to West Asia cannot be understated, perhaps best realised in this moment where Cyprus, a Crown Colony, was used as a launchpad for attacks against Egypt.
From the years following, Britain recognised the threat of ‘Enosis’ (the ideology seeking a union between Cyprus and Greece) as well as the growing discontent with British occupation across Cypriot society. Perhaps fearing they would lose their military outposts on the island, Britain coordinated a meeting in 1959 between the Prime Ministers of Greece and Turkey to formulate a path for Cyprus. This became known as the Treaty of Guarantee 1960. A significant stipulation in this so-called independence agreement given to Cyprus was for Britain to retain two Sovereign Base Areas, 75.3 square miles in Akrotiri and 74.8 square miles in Dhekelia. Yet, Britain retained RAF Nicosia for another six years as it was part of the ‘Near East Command’.
1960-2000
Britain’s retention of 3% of Cyprus is critical for its imperialist interests across West Asia, both as a colonial power in its own right and to act on behalf of the United States and NATO. This was particularly salient given the British loss of the Suez Canal and ethe nd of British mandate over Palestine and the need for Britain to support the colonisation of Palestine. As British colonial bases elsewhere in the region closed in the era of decolonisation, their focus became Cyprus.
In a 1971 report recently revealed by Declassified UK, the MoD recognised “the continuation of the UK position in Cyprus” as NATO’s “strategic importance”. In particular, Akrotiri was seen as a “most valuable facility to maintain surveillance coverage of the Eastern Mediterranean”.
The US use of Akrotiri became more pronounced in the 1970s. In August 1974, an American U-2 spy plane was deployed to RAF Akrotiri. With an additional one or two planes, they have been permanently stationed on the base ever since, carrying out routine spy missions over West Asia, and providing intelligence to “third party governments”, we can say with high probability this will include Israel. Given the conditions of the SBA, Britain does not need to reveal to the Cypriot government that it is housing American military equipment. This stipulation is enjoyed by the US in Cyprus and globally with over 800 military bases worldwide.
In the 1980s, RAF Akrotiri was used to fly Boeing Chinook helicopters for British UN forces in Lebanon, and Akrotiri was a launchpad for US attacks on Libya. It was the site of an additional British intelligence communications station until 2008, despite the rest of the intelligence apparatus continuing today. In 2008, Akrotiri was used to launch US spy planes over Lebanon to feed information about resistance groups to Israel. This operation was kept a secret for fear of backlash from Cypriots.
Akrotiri was key to Britain’s role in the horrific invasion of Libya, which destroyed one of the richest countries in Africa for its Pan-Africanist, anti-imperialist politics, turning it into an impoverished hub with mass slavery trafficking. In fact, RAF Akrotiri was declared the British command site for the war on Libya. Britain deployed a Joint Force Air Component HQ to Akrotiri, a force that controls the airspace and manages aircraft. At least 8-12 Eurofighter
Typhoon fighter jets and 6012 Tornado GR4 were deployed there, as well as a number of further military planes, including the surveillance and command E3-D Sentry, refuelling VC10, and surveillance Sentinel. At the same time, Akrotiri was used as a launchpad to facilitate the US-led invasion of Afghanistan. From 2014, Akrotiri was the site of British attacks on Iraq and Syria, housing at least eight Tornado fighter jets and six Typhoon jets, which were then refuelling by Voyager refuelling crafts as well as Akrotiri’s fuel depot directly. Akrotiri is a key site for refuelling. The main fuel depot, the Petroleum Storage Depot, is located on the shoreline of Akrotiri, which can store up to 29 million litres of aviation fuel. This can fuel a Typhoon fighter jet more than 2,260 times. This refuelling role is significant as it multiplies the air power projection capabilities of the base, and allows it to support attacks in a much greater area.
2023 - present
Since the Israeli occupation unleashed an escalated genocide upon the Palestinian people of Gaza, RAF Akrotiri has become a key site in supporting the genocidal entity. The role of the base has been fourfold: intelligence gathering through surveillance flights to and from Akrotiri; remote signals intelligence collection by the UK and US; facilitating the delivery of military cargo to Israel; and providing a crucial node for UK and US military asset basing (including US special forces) for transit to Israel. Like the MoD recognised in 1971, the SBAs provide Britain, NATO, and allies with a facility to surveil the entire Eastern Mediterranean and beyond. Since October 2023, Britain has carried out over 500 surveillance flights over Gaza. This intelligence is almost certainly being provided to Israel to carry out its deliberate and targeted attacks on infrastructure in Gaza. The Shadow R1, surveillance planes equipped with high-definition electro-optical and electronic sensors to gather data, take off from RAF Akrotiri. When we see targeted attacks on displaced people sheltering in schools, hospitals, journalists in tents or in apartments, we must point to Britain as a belligerent for providing the intelligence.
Furthermore, Akrotiri has been used as a launchpad for the horrific Anglo-American attacks on Yemen. Bomber planes launched from Cyprus attacked Yemen in January 2024, May 2024, March 2025, and April 2025. Not only is Akrotiri used to facilitate Israel’s genocide in Gaza, but it is also used to bomb those who dare challenge it. Similarly, in June 2025, Britain sent six Typhoon fighter jets and Voyager refuelling planes to Cyprus to support US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
Today, Akrotiri is Britain’s aforementioned launchpad for attacks across West Asia. There are right now at least 14 British Typhoon fighter jets based on Akrotiri. There are over 4,000 British military personnel and their families there today. It is still described as central to British imperialism across West Asia, described as an “immovable aircraft carrier” by a British military official, and repeatedly celebrated as an essential location for military invasions.
From only a brief overview of RAF Akrotiri’s past 70 years, it is clear the base acts as a critical component for the Anglo-American empire in its attacks on West Asia. Without the base, it is improbable that such high levels of violence and surveillance would be possible. The Ministry of Defence knew it in 1971, and they know it today. This is why there have been repeated attempts to silence questioning and challenge about the use of RAF Akrotiri, Britain’s surveillance flights, and facilitation of weapons to Israel. While Members of Parliament have repeatedly asked questions to the government, they receive the same response to the matter of ‘hostages’. Journalists refuse to report on the surveillance flights, despite Britain concealing its very substantial role in facilitating a genocide. While people in Britain are deliberately made unaware of the bases on Cyprus, there is widespread knowledge and anger in Cyprus. Groups in Cyprus have been protesting at Akrotiri for years against the use of the country as a military launchpad and against the British colonial occupation of the island. Since October 2023, Cypriot organising for Palestine has significantly grown, including groups tracking and reporting on flights launched from Akrotiri. Without this organising and reporting from Matt Kennard and Declassified UK, the media and political elite would have succeeded in their secrecy.
The proscription of Palestine Action was spurred not by attacks on Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, but for their spraying of a RAF plane at RAF Brize Norton. Brize Norton is where flights are most often launched to Akrotiri. Palestine Action allegedly damaged two Voyager planes, which carry military cargo and refuel military planes, including those that bombed Yemen.
Since the beginning, Britain has sought utmost secrecy over its operations in its colonial bases on Cyprus. The MoD said it in 1971, and Starmer echoed it in 2024 in a visit: “The whole world and everyone back at home is relying on you. Quite a bit of what goes on here can't necessarily be talked about all of the time. We can't necessarily tell the world what you're doing." Now, thanks to Palestine Action, the Palestine movement in Cyprus, and mass organising against the genocide, the whole world is watching. We are watching and we are organising to shut you down.
Nuvpreet Kalra is CODEPINK’s Digital Content Producer and Bases Off Cyprus Campaign Coordinator. For more information and how to organise against RAF Akrotiri, visit www.basesoffcyprus.org