Greek Cyprus denies Israeli plans to deploy commandos

Greek Cyprus, which faces a difficult time with its troubled economy, currently cannot afford to spend $10 billion building a gas terminal. Israel had offered to build the terminal, but demanded that all 10,000 construction workers employed for the project be Israeli citizens. This means there will be a total of 30,000 Israelis living on the island if the purported plan is put into action. Of that number, 20,000 will be Israeli commandos deployed to the island to protect the Israeli citizens and the gas terminal, Anatolia news agency reported last week.

Greek Cypriots’ denial of the report came after a similar Israeli refusal on Monday. Hsitos Hristofidis, a deputy spokesperson for the Greek Cyprus administration, claimed that there were no further military agreements between the two administrations other than the military agreements signed in Israel during the visit of Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman in late March. Two agreements, covering intelligence-sharing and air and sea collaboration, were signed between Israel and Greek Cyprus, in January and March, respectively.