French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday pledged to defend Cyprus and dispatch additional warships to the Eastern Mediterranean to strengthen alliesโ security in the region unsettled by the Iran war.
Mr. Macron said he was visiting Cyprus 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.ย
โWhen Cyprus is attacked, it is Europe that is attacked,โ Mr. Macron said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at Cyprusโ main air base near the southwestern town of Paphos. โWe are bound to one another by strategic partnerships.โย
Mr. Macron had ordered the French frigate Languedoc to waters off Cyprus, a fellow European Union member, to bolster its anti-drone and anti-missile defenses. Last week, France also sent ground-based anti-drone and anti-missile defenses.ย
-AP