https://www.declassifieduk.org/u-s-special-ops-flights-to-israel-from-uks-cyprus-base-surge-under-starmer/
Secrecy surrounds unmarked American military planes going from UK territory to Israel, but new information could further implicate Labour ministers in war crimes.
MATT KENNARD
10 October 2024

Keir Starmer meets Joe Biden days after taking office. (Photo: Simon Dawson / No 10)

Labour’s Ministry of Defence refuses to provide any details of secret American flights

US special forces have flown average of once a week to Israel from UK base on Cyprus under Labour

American commandos are “actively helping the Israelis” with their assault on Gaza

US special forces flights to Israel from a British airbase have doubled in frequency since Keir Starmer took over from Rishi Sunak as prime minister, it can be revealed.

At least 13 US planes used by special forces, nearly all of them unmarked, have gone from Britain’s sprawling airbase on Cyprus to Israel since Labour took office on July 5. This works out at an average of one a week since Starmer won the election.

During Labour’s first month in office four CN-235 planes made the 340km journey from RAF Akrotiri to Tel Aviv. In August, five made the 50 minute flight.

October has already seen three such flights to Israel which flew last Thursday as well as on Sunday and Tuesday. Two of these flights were marked as US Air Force (USAF) for the first time.

The majority of flights stayed in Israel for around two hours before flying back to Akrotiri. It is not known what they were dropping off or picking up. It has, however, previously been revealed that the US is using Akrotiri to deliver weapons to Israel.

One US plane stayed overnight in Tel Aviv on August 2 before flying back to Cyprus, while another on July 16 took off from Akrotiri at 1.10am and returned back from Israel at 6.58am.

Under the previous Conservative government, Declassified could only verify 18 similar US flights that went from Akrotiri to Israel over the nine months after October 7 before Labour took power.

The UK government has long refused to give any details of US use of British territory to support the Israeli assault on Gaza, but Declassified independently constructed a timeline.
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‘No comment’

The new information could further implicate British ministers in war crimes in Gaza. In November 2023, a US military official revealed that American special forces were stationed in Israel and “actively helping the Israelis”.

International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan has requested arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defence minister Yoav Gallant. The World Court is also investigating Israel for what it has called a “plausible” genocide in Gaza.

Most of the US planes show that they were recently at Fayetteville, North Carolina, which is home to Fort Liberty, the largest US Army base by population with nearly 50,000 active-duty soldiers.

Formerly called Fort Bragg, it is home to the 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) which “assigns, equips, trains, certifies, and validates [Army Special Operations Forces] Soldiers and units to conduct global operations”.

The Pentagon says this unit is “the most adaptable and capable enabling force in the United States military.”

The UK Ministry of Defence would provide no details about US flights going from Cyprus to Israel.

A spokesperson told Declassified: “For operational security reasons and as a matter of policy, the Ministry of Defence does not offer comment or information relating to any foreign nations’ military aircraft movements or operations.”
The plane

The CN-235 is produced by Airbus and believed to be used by 427th Special Operations Squadron which has been described as the USAF’s “most secretive squadron” and is based at Fort Liberty.

After a reporter filed a Freedom of Information Act request, the Air Force told him the unit supports “training requirements…for infiltration and exfiltration” – a reference to the covert deployment and extraction of special forces behind enemy lines.

The aircraft’s primary military roles include maritime patrol, surveillance, and air transport. It can carry 70 military personnel or 48 paratroopers.

In February 2023, an unmarked CN-235 went to eastern Europe to support President Joe Biden’s trip to Ukraine and Poland.

This plane arrived at the USAF base in Britain, RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk on February 17, where it spent the night before leaving for Poland the following day.

One journalist noted: “Sporting a single-tone slate grey livery, this rare, secretive [Air Force Special Operations Command] aircraft wore no identifiable national markings, air arm/unit insignia or serial number details.”

But the serial number of the US plane at RAF Mildenhall was eventually located and is the same as the plane that has flown from Akrotiri to Israel multiple times since March.
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Other US flights

The CN-235 plane has also flown from Akrotiri to Sigonella Naval Air Station (NAS), operated by the US military in Italy, twice under Labour. The flights went on September 23 and August 31.

NAS Sigonella is the Navy’s second largest security command, second only to its base in Bahrain.

Under Starmer, numerous US military transport flights have also arrived from Turkey and Germany. Four US military-operated C-130J Hercules have arrived from Adana, Turkey, under the new Labour administration. It is possible they were carrying weapons for Israel.

Adana is home to the Incirlik airbase, a major US facility with 5,000 American personnel. The Hercules can carry 128 combat troops and 19,600kg of cargo.

A MoD spokesperson told Declassified: “It is standard practice for the Ministry of Defence to routinely authorise requests for limited numbers of allies and partners to access the UK’s airbases.

“Any use of the Sovereign Base Areas [on Cyprus] by other nations would be in line with UK policy (for evacuation / humanitarian purposes only).”   

The US Department of Defence did not respond to a request for comment.