PAPHOS, Cyprus — With assist from U.S. taxpayers, Cyprus is upgrading key army installations to strengthen the mission it has carved for itself as a protected haven within the japanese Mediterranean for evacuees from the conflict-wracked Center East and as a humanitarian assist hub.
Cyprus’ fundamental Evangelos Florakis naval base, simply 142 miles (229 kilometers) from Lebanon’s coast, will get a brand new, U.S. European Command-funded heliport that can be capable to accommodate massive, Chinook-type transport helicopters for airlifting evacuees out of battle zones.
Within the island’s southwest, the Andreas Papandreou air base might be expanded to incorporate a brand new apron the place dozens of heavy-lift army transport plane bringing in personnel and tools in assist of regional humanitarian missions could be refueled and bear upkeep extra rapidly, Lt. Col. Paris Samoutis, a spokesperson for Cyprus’ Nationwide Guard, informed the Related Press which obtained uncommon, unique entry to the restricted services.
The U.S. is paying for these two initiatives — a part of a wider program of upgrades for each bases — to assist Cyprus meet the necessities of large-scale operations in response to humanitarian crises. Work is predicted to begin subsequent yr.
Actual funding for each initiatives hasn’t been launched as price assessments are underway. Samoutis mentioned the U.S. has put up 500,000 euros ($588,000) for a growth plan that can decide the general price of the air base’s growth to incorporate the brand new apron.
Such U.S. assist would have been extremely unlikely earlier than a decade in the past, when Cyprus shed its long-held, non-aligned diplomatic posture and made a transparent flip to the West.
Diplomatic outreach to the U.S. reached new heights underneath Cyprus’ American-educated President Nikos Christodoulides, ending a U.S.-imposed, decades-old arms embargo and ushering in new enterprise alternatives.
Christodoulides since his 2023 election has leveraged Cyprus’ geographic location to underscore to fellow European Union leaders and U.S. administrations that the island nation is completely positioned to behave because the West’s diplomatic, financial and humanitarian bridge to a tumultuous Center East.
“As a conscientious and accountable associate, Cyprus stays a reputable and protected harbor,” Christodoulides mentioned in December.
Up to now, the U.S. army relied on two British military bases in Cyprus that the U.Ok. retained after the island gained independence from colonial rule in 1960. An plane hangar at one of many bases, RAF Akrotiri, was hit by a Shahed drone on March 2 that Cypriot officers mentioned was launched from Lebanon.
The improve of Cyprus’ personal installations offers different choices to Washington and EU companions with regional pursuits similar to France.
In April 2023, Cyprus turned a transit level for repatriating third-country nationals from crisis-hit Sudan. In June 2025, when the U.S. and Israel struck Iran’s nuclear services, it once more once more acted as a way station for people leaving Israel and for Israelis stranded overseas to get again residence.
In 2024, the island activated what it referred to as the Amalthea maritime corridor to ship hundreds of tons of humanitarian assist to war-torn Gaza, initially straight and later by way of the Israeli port of Ashdod.
Quite a few EU companions and different nations have deployed civilian workers, troops, helicopters and plane in Cyprus to help in potential evacuations of their residents. The U.S. in 2024 deployed a marine contingent at Paphos air base with quite a lot of V-22 Osprey tiltrotor army plane to help evacuations from Lebanon.
Christodoulides has made clear that using Cyprus’ army installations might be restricted to humanitarian operations and are usually not for offensive army motion.
Samoutis mentioned other than the brand new heliport, the naval base will get revamped port services that may accommodate warships similar to frigates which are bigger than the Cypriot fleet of lighter vessels. He mentioned these are wanted to supply aerial defenses by way of their radar and missile programs to departing and arriving transport helicopters.
The air base additionally will host a newly shaped regional firefighting coordination middle that might assist neighboring Center Jap nations battle main wildfires. The middle is deliberate to be inaugurated subsequent month.
“Cyprus stays a part of the answer, not the issue,” Samoutis mentioned, echoing a mantra coined by Christodoulides.
