Europe rallies around Greek Cyprus days after drone attack

PAPHOS, Greek Cyprus

French President Emmanuel Macron on March 9 pledged to defend Greek Cyprus and dispatch additional warships to the Eastern Mediterranean to strengthen allies' security in the region unsettled by the Iran war.

Macron said he was visiting the island primarily to show solidarity with the country, where a Shahed drone struck a British air base on the southern coast last week. It was the first drone attack of the war on European territory.

"When Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked," Macron said after talks with his Greek Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at an air base near the southwestern town of Paphos. "We are bound to one another by strategic partnerships.”

Macron had ordered the French frigate Languedoc to waters off Greek Cyprus, a fellow EU member, to bolster its anti-drone and anti-missile defenses. Last week, France also sent ground-based anti-drone and anti-missile defenses.

Greece has dispatched four F-16 fighter planes to the Paphos air base, and its frigates Kimon and Psara are already patrolling off Greek Cyprus, tasked with intercepting any missiles or drones.

Macron said he would deploy eight warships, two helicopter carriers and the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, equipped with its 20 Rafale fighter jets, to the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider Middle East, calling France's move “unprecedented.” Greek Cyprus and France signed a new strategic partnership in December.

He briefly visited the French aircraft carrier off Greece's Crete.

Macron also pointed to a French-led initiative in the works that will involve European and non-European nations helping to escort oil and gas tankers with the aim of gradually reopening the Strait of Hormuz off Iran “as soon as possible after the most intense phase of the conflict is over.”

Christodoulides noted: “Our countries have the common belief that the European Union must engage more actively, more strategically and more coherently with the wider region as part of a comprehensive approach."

The Greek prime minister stressed that any action is purely defensive in posture, adding that "we're not going to accept any part of European territory, like Cyprus, to be exposed to the slightest danger."

Macron has been involved in diplomatic talks seeking to avoid further escalation in the Middle East. On March 7, he spoke to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and urged him to stop strikes.

Christodoulides has said Greek Cyprus won't take part in any military operation and remains focused on its regional humanitarian role that includes a maritime corridor sending aid to Gaza via the Israeli port of Ashdod.