PAPHOS — Cyprus will begin U.S.-funded upgrades next year at the Evangelos Florakis naval base and the Andreas Papandreou air base to strengthen its role as a safe haven and humanitarian aid hub in the eastern Mediterranean for evacuees from the Middle East. The United States is funding the projects as part of a wider program of improvements at both bases to help Cyprus meet requirements for large-scale humanitarian operations.

The Evangelos Florakis naval base, located 142 miles (229 kilometers) from Lebanon's coast, will receive a heliport funded by U.S. European Command capable of accommodating large, Chinook-type transport helicopters for airlifting evacuees out of conflict zones. The base will also get revamped port facilities able to accommodate warships such as frigates larger than the existing Cypriot fleet of lighter vessels, Cyprus' National Guard spokesperson Paris Samoutis said, with the upgraded facilities intended to provide aerial defenses for departing and arriving transport helicopters through radar and missile systems.

The Andreas Papandreou air base will be expanded to include a new apron, Samoutis said, allowing dozens of heavy-lift military transport aircraft bringing in personnel and equipment for regional humanitarian missions to be refueled and undergo maintenance more quickly. The air base will also host a regional firefighting coordination center to help neighboring Middle Eastern countries battle major wildfires, with the center planned to be inaugurated next month.

Exact funding for both projects has not been released because cost assessments are underway. The United States has put up 500,000 euros for a development plan to determine the overall cost of the air base's expansion to include the new apron, he said. "Cyprus remains part of the solution, not the problem," he said.

About a decade ago, Cyprus ended its long-held non-aligned diplomatic posture and made a turn to the West. Diplomatic outreach to the United States increased under President Nikos Christodoulides, who was elected in 2023, with Cyprus ending a U.S.-imposed, decades-old arms embargo and creating new business opportunities with the U.S. Christodoulides has stated that Cyprus' geographic location allows it to serve as a diplomatic, economic, and humanitarian bridge between the West and the Middle East, and that the island's military installations will be restricted to humanitarian operations and not used for offensive military action. "As a conscientious and responsible partner, Cyprus remains a credible and safe harbor," Christodoulides said.

In April 2023, Cyprus served as a transit point for repatriating third-country nationals from Sudan. In 2024, the country activated the Amalthea maritime corridor to ship thousands of tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza, with shipments initially going directly to Gaza and later through the Israeli port of Ashdod. That same year, the U.S. deployed a Marine contingent at Paphos air base with V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft to assist evacuations from Lebanon. In June 2025, Cyprus acted as a way station for people leaving Israel and for Israelis stranded abroad to return home after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran's nuclear facilities.