Cyprus shifts military gear: New air defence deal raises eyebrows in Mediterranean

Early this week Cyprus got its hands on a brand-new Israeli air-defence setup‚ but local officials dont want to talk much about it. The Barak MX system (which will take place of the aging Russian Tor M1) arrived without much noise

Nikos Christodoulides‚ the islands president made it clear: “We must boost our defence — not just as an occupied nation but as an EU member in a key geo-strategic spot“

The island has been split since mid-70s after a Turkish move-in following a Greek-backed takeover try. Now theres a world-recognized south and a Turkish-controlled north with lots of military stuff

The defence switch-up comes at an interesting time: Russian gear (which Cyprus used forever) is now hard to fix or upgrade because of Ukraine-related rules. A high-up source says theyʼre looking west now — to EU countries and Israel for new military partners

Back in the late 90s Cyprus tried getting S-300s from Russia but that didnt go well: Turkey got super-mad and the stuff ended up in Crete. But things are different now; the U.S is way more friendly with Cyprus these days (the president even had a nice phone chat with their leader yesterday)

• Old Russian systems need parts
• Sanctions block upgrades
• Israel stepped in with new tech
• Western ties getting stronger

The whole thing shows how Cyprus is moving away from its old friends: first-time ever getting big military stuff from Israel — thats quite a change-up for this tiny but important Mediterranean spot