Syrian refugees beach at British base on Cyprus

About 100 Syrians fleeing the war in their country beached at the Akrotiri British air base on the southern shores of Cyprus on Wednesday.

The base, which was retained by Britain when it accorded independence to Cyprus in 1960, is considered to be British sovereign soil.

The deputy police chief of the base Giorgos Kitieos told the state radio by phone that two small boats loaded with refugees where spotted on a beach of the base shortly before sunrise.

He said most of the refugees are women and children, adding that they are all well.

Kitieos added that the base administration is in touch with Cypriot authorities so as to offer the best possible care to the refugees.

An official of the Cypriot Civil Defense department said it is ready to offer any help requested by the Akrotiri base administration.

But he noted that the Civil Defense has no authority to interfere as the area in which they arrived is within the boundaries of Akrotiri sovereign base.

The Akrotiri air base is used by British Tornados to fly sorties against the Islamic State in Iraq and also serves as an important communications center.

The base is next to the southern port city of Limassol and there are no visible boundary signs on the ground. But the landing strip and other facilities are fenced off from the rest of the base.

Though Cyprus is close to the war zone in the Middle East, it is out of the main route of refugees fleeing fighting in neighboring countries because as an island it does not offer an easy outlet to Europe.

But refugees arrive occasionally in small fishing boats or are plucked from bigger vessels which request help from Cypriot authorities. Endit