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Twice, the air raid sirens sounded around RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus on Thursday afternoon. We were rushed inside as soldiers lay on the floor in body armour. It was over quickly.
The British defence secretary, visiting the base at the time, was taken into “a windowless room” just before he was due to dial into a COBRA meeting.
The warning system at the base is quite unsophisticated, unable to be specific like the Israeli equivalent, and so the alarms are sounded out of caution, not necessarily because something is incoming, but it did underline the threat to the island, so close to Lebanon and the Iranian proxy Hezbollah which is believed to be responsible for the attacks.
One drone did get through the defences on Sunday. It flew undetected, low to the sea, and was described as “tiny”.
But it still managed to put a hole in a hangar normally used to house American U2 spy planes.
It probably wasn’t a lucky shot: the hangar, with two U2s parked outside, is clearly visible on Google Maps.
In my interview with John Healey I asked him when the option to deploy a Royal Navy destroyer first hit his desk. He suggested he’d had options for weeks. I pressed him to clarify it was his decision to delay then, and he didn’t disagree.
But afterwards, defence sources told me the Royal Navy only gave him the option on Tuesday.
Either way, whether military planners or the defence secretary himself, the plan came too late for the Cypriot government and people on the island.
The ship won’t depart until next week. A French frigate, the Languedoc, has already arrived off Cyprus. Based in Toulon, it was already much closer of course, but notably able to leave port immediately.
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