Saturday, November 4/2023

There are more detailed maps available, of course, but this one does show how Cyprus is nestled in a very ancient corner of the world. On a clear day you can see Turkey from the north shore. Latakia, Syria is 110 kilometres from the eastern tip of the Karpaz peninsula. Long distance swim records involve greater distances. A flight to Beirut takes an hour but it’s all ascent and descent. 

So Cyprus is a small country but it’s never been an insignificant one. Known as an unsinkable aircraft carrier, it functions as a launching point for planes heading to conflicts throughout the Middle East, as well as a useful spot for R and R between missions, as when Britain gave Cyprus its independence in 1960, the agreement was that she would retain two sovereign bases on the island, amounting to about three. percent of the land.  Britain had in earlier times needed the island as a base to guard the land route through the Middle East to India. The sovereign military bases now include an intelligence gathering station at Agios Nikolaos as well as one in the Troodos mountains - revealed by Edward Snowden as a facility used by both the UK and the US for spying on the Middle East. Currently the word is that this base has been monitoring communications from the resistance in Palestine and supplying it in real time to the Israeli military.