French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Cyprus on Monday, 9 March, where he will meet with President of the Republic Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, according to the Élysée.
“President Macron’s visit to Paphos expresses France’s solidarity with Cyprus, a member state of the European Union, with which we have an agreement of strategic importance and which was hit last week by several drones and missiles,” sources close to the Élysée said.
The same sources said that the purpose of the visit is to strengthen, together with European partners, security in Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean region, with the aim of de-escalating the crisis in the region.
This visit will also allow the French President to underline how important it is to ensure freedom of navigation in the region, mainly with the EU's 'Aspides' naval operation, the same sources said, who at the same time underline that the visit will provide the opportunity to coordinate efforts regarding the safety of European citizens who are in dangerous areas, as well as regarding their repatriation operations.
In the early hours of 2 March 2, Shahed-type drone struck military facilities in the British Bases, hosted in Akrotiri, in the southern tip of Cyprus, causing minor damage, amid regional turmoil following the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. The attack by the Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicle, believed to be linked to Hezbollah operating in Lebanon, prompted heightened security measures, while several countries, including Greece and France said they were deploying warships, aircraft and other air defence assets to shield Cyprus. The UK also announced the dispatch of a warship. Nicosia reiterates that it has no involvement in the wider Middle East conflict.
(Source: CNA)
