British Special Forces ‘on standby in Cyprus’, UK media says
British Special Forces troops are currently in Cyprus on standby for developments in Gaza and the wider region, according to media reports in the United Kingdom.
Newspaper The Sun said the soldiers are “braced to free UK citizens trapped in the bloodbath” in Gaza as the crisis in the region continues. They added that around 200 British nationals are stranded in Gaza.
They say the troops’ primary focus “is the Gaza strip, but officials fear the war could spread, trapping more Brits in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and Lebanon”.
The Cyprus Mail contacted the UK’s Ministry of Defence, but they were unable to confirm or deny the presence of special forces soldiers on the island.
“It is the longstanding policy of successive governments not to comment on special forces,” they said.
However, they did mention that they have increased their deployment of regular military personnel to the British bases in Cyprus.
“The UK has sent additional forces to the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus to support contingency planning and humanitarian efforts across the region. These personnel are supplementary to forces already deployed, helping to bolster stability in the wider region,” they added.
These additional forces include over 100 personnel from the “Joint Force Headquarters”, which is the UK’s specialist early entry and crisis response headquarters.