In Rattling Sabers at Cyprus, Is Hezbollah’s Terror Chieftain Also Threatening London?

Whether the Hezbollah terror chief, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, is feeling “distressed” at the moment is anybody’s guess, but threats to Cyprus he made in a speech on Wednesday marked a clear escalation in regional tensions. In his speech, Mr. Nasrallah said that in the case of wider war with Israel, “Opening Cypriot airports and bases to the Israeli enemy to target Lebanon would mean that the Cypriot government is part of the war, and the resistance will deal with it as part of the war.”The easternmost member of the European Union, Cyprus holds major strategic importance for signals intelligence and the deployment of high-altitude surveillance drones.Great Britain maintains two large bases on the island: the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. That is where the “Cypriot” airports and bases to which Mr. Nasrallah was referring are located.President Christodoulides of Cyprus told reporters on Wednesday that “Cyprus remains uninvolved in any military conflicts and positions itself as part of the solution rather than the problem.”When asked if he would communicate with foreign leaders about these developments, Mr. Christodoulides said, “Certainly, through the diplomatic channel. But, I repeat, what the Republic of Cyprus is doing is public, it is not in secret. The Republic of Cyprus is part of the solution and not part of the problem.”Mr. Christodoulides also said that “Of course there is a channel of communication with both the government of Lebanon and the government in Iran.”In October, just weeks after Hamas’s deadly attacks in southern Israel, Haaretz reported that dozens of American military planes were flying arms and equipment to Israel from Cyprus. An unspecified number of British cargo planes assisted with the airlift. Again, nothing unusual there: from August 2014 onward, America put Cyprus’s strategic location to use in Operation Inherent Resolve to deter the Islamic State in northern Syria. Several weeks ago the former British armed services minister, James Heappey, stated that “the purpose behind the bolstered presence of British troops in Cyprus is to support emergency plans and humanitarian efforts in the region.”Were Mr. Nasrallah to initiate attacks against “Cypriot airports and bases” as retaliation against Israel, it would inevitably draw Great Britain into a regional war — and potentially right before Britain heads to a general election on July 4. Meanwhile, when asked if he was worried by Mr. Nasrallah’s statements, Mr. Christodoulidis said: “The statements are not pleasant, but they do not respond in any way to what is being attempted, to present an image that Cyprus is involved in military operations.”

In Rattling Sabers at Cyprus, Is Hezbollah’s Terror Chieftain Also Threatening London?

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