AT FIRST, the four tiny spots on the horizon off RAF Akrotiri looked harmless, but as they neared shore, they grew into landing craft, packed to the brim with camouflaged figures, armed to the teeth. With a war in Iraq looming, the message was ominous.
In a matter of minutes, the first wave of a British Royal Marine reconnaissance team poured silently from the sides of four amphibious landing craft to secure the area around the landing site.
The air of reality surrounding the exercise was given away by the broad daylight and over 30 journalists and photographers scurrying around the Commandos.
Soon after the reconnaissance team vanished into the surroundings, a second wave of Royal Marines landed, followed by a third wave on bigger crafts who hurried along the beach and made their way to meet the other Marines.
In the distance, the menacing shapes of the HMS Ocean and four other vessels from the 17-ship flotilla were safely anchored, while helicopters continuously patrolled the area.
“This sort of exercise is carried out at night, and if the helicopters and Red Arrows weren’t around you would hardly be able to hear the Marines as they landed,” Major Simon Turner said.
“What usually happens with an amphibious insertion is that the first team that comes in makes sure that the gradient was acceptable for the boats to come in.
“Then, just prior to the attack the beach would be marked with light sticks or the GPS co-ordinates would be taken,” Turner said.
With an attack on Iraq now looking a strong possibility, Turner said the men’s moral was high.
“At the end of the day, you train for a job, and potentially we may be called upon to use that training in the near future,” he said.
“They are used to that and morale is very high, even though no decision has yet been made on an attack.”
The flotilla off Akrotiri is Britain’s largest naval task force since the 1982 Falklands War. It arrived off Cyprus for military exercises on Monday.
The 15 warships and support vessels are likely to head towards the Gulf later this week, joining US forces already in the region. There are about 5,000 personnel aboard the vessels and the force includes a small number of US marines.
Akrotiri is likely to play a key support role in any military action in the region.
The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.
