Greek F-16s over Paphos as aerial manoeuvres get under way

FOUR Greek F-16 fighter jets flew over the newly completed Paphos air base yesterday mornings to signal a high-profile start to the Toxotis war games.

Low-flying jets twice passed over the Andreas Papandreou air base during brief sorties, which included mock attacks on inland and sea targets.

Afterwards the jets returned back to base in Crete.

The annual Greece-Cyprus air defence exercise will continue for two days, but the defence ministry is refusing to release details for security reasons.

It is also remaining tight-lipped over whether the air base was used as a launch pad for the exercise.

Toxotis usually incorporates the islands of Rhodes and Crete, as well as Cyprus.

The joint war games are part of the joint defence pact signed by the two countries in 1993.

Under the pact, Greece pledges to defend Cyprus in the event of any further attack by Turkey.

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.