Britain to establish £15m permanent Mid East military base Britain is to establish its first permanent military base in the Middle East since it formally withdrew from the region in 1971. The base, at the Mina Salman Port in Bahrain, will host ships including destroyers and aircraft carriers. The UK said it was an expansion of the Royal Navys footprint and would reinforce stability in the Gulf. Bahrain will pay most of the £15m ($23m) needed to build the base, with the British paying ongoing costs. UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, who signed the deal at a security conference in Manama, Bahrain, said it was just one example of our growing partnership with Gulf partners to tackle shared strategic and regional threats. He said the move builds upon our 30-year track record of Gulf patrols. BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner there was already a rotating presence of four British minesweepers at the Mina Salman Port, but the UK had been piggybacking on the US naval base there. He said the new facility would be one of the most important Royal Navy bases in the world and would be used for a whole host of things including supporting UK operations in Iraq, where RAF jets have been attacking targets as part of a US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS) militants. The base would also be used for operations against piracy and for aerial surveillance, he added. He also said the threat of IS may have made Gulf monarchies content to invite British forces to set up on their soil. UK Defence Secretary Michael Fallon added: This new base is a permanent expansion of the Royal Navys footprint and will enable Britain to send more and larger ships to reinforce stability in the Gulf. Bahrains foreign minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa said: Bahrain looks forward to the early implementation of todays arrangement and to continuing to work with the UK and other partners to address threats to regional security. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30355953
Posted on: Sat, 06 Dec 2014 13:26:20 +0000
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