We can hit UK Cyprus base, says Russia

A FORMER Russian general yesterday warned Moscow could hit Britain’s base in Cyprus if the RAF struck Assad’s forces.

Lieutenant General Evgeny Buzhinskiy, who previously served on the Russian General Staff, said Western intervention could be a ‘direct way to military confrontation’.

The general told Radio ’s Today programme that Moscow could order hits on the ‘carriers’ of such weapons.

He said if the US, UK and France struck it ‘would be a very, very bad situation because it’s the direct way for military confrontation with Russia’. He was asked if Russia could hit the UK base in Cyprus, where Tornado jets are based. He responded: ‘Well if our military determined that the missiles were launched from the UK’s carriers, UK carriers and missiles would be hit back.’

It followed reports yesterday that Syrian warplanes have carried out fewer raids since Donald Trump threatened strikes in the country.

Monitoring groups and civilians said that the skies had been quiet since Mr Trump had taken to Twitter to warn ‘nice and new and smart’ weapons ‘will be coming’. The claims support suggestions that Bashar al-Assad has already scrambled to move weapons and equipment.

Syrian opposition groups have reported seeing forces emptying bases in an effort to shield their equipment from expected US strikes.