RAF Akrotiri

Royal Air Force Akrotiri, commonly abbreviated RAF Akrotiri (IATA: AKT, ICAO: LCRA) is a large Royal Air Force (RAF) military airbase on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus. It is located in the Western Sovereign Base Area, one of two areas which comprise Akrotiri and Dhekelia, a British Overseas Territory, administered as a Sovereign Base Area. The station was constructed in the mid-1950s, and was the base for operations during the Suez Crisis in 1956, the EOKA revolt, and monitoring of the Egypt / Israel Suez Canal fighting and cease-fire in the 1970s. It went on to be used during the reception of American casualties after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing and was used during the USA's bombing of Libya in 1986. It played a major role as a transit point for personnel evacuations out of Lebanon during the 2006 Lebanon War and was used as a staging base for support aircraft involved in Operation Ellamy, the UK's contribution to the NATO-led military intervention in Libya, in 2011. In August 2014, RAF Panavia Tornado fighter-bombers were deployed to Akrotiri to carry out reconnaissance missions over Iraq, following the rise of Islamic State (ISIS) and in September 2014, British aircraft from the base intercepted and attacked an ISIS target, at the request of Iraqi Kurdish fighters. In 2018, the station was used to support the 2018 missile strikes against Syria and, in 2024, Typhoons based in Akrotiri struck Houthi targets in Yemen. The station commander has a dual role, and is also the officer commanding the Akrotiri or Western Sovereign Base Area, reporting to the commander of British Forces Cyprus (BFC) who is also the Administrator.