US air force planes land at RAF Fairford after dozens join anti-war protest at UK base
US air force planes have landed at RAF Fairford, after the UK allowed American to use its bases to take part in defensive operations in Iran.
Footage broadcast on Sunday (8 March) showed two Boeing C-17 Globemaster transportation planes landing at the airbase in Gloucestershire.
The planes landed just days after B-1 Lancer bombers arrived. It is unclear whether the aircraft will leave Fairford later to fly to the Middle East.
Keir Starmer has allowed the US to use UK bases for “specific defensive operations”. His change in stance came after British allies and the RAF base at Akrotiri, Cyprus, were subject to retaliatory attacks in the last week.
The US aircraft landing at RAF Fairford comes as an anti-war protest was held at the UK base on Saturday (7 March).
Dozens of demonstrators protested against the use of the site for "illegal attacks on Iran". Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament organised the "emergency" protest.
It claims that the Prime Minister announcing that the UK will allow the US to use bases including RAF Fairford as part of the military campaign is "unlawful aggression".
Two of the protesters – from Wiltshire, near the base – told the BBC that they hoped the demonstration would "signal" that "the British public are not necessarily behind this by any means".
Images from the protest show demonstrators holding placards with slogans such as 'Hands off Iran', 'Stop drone killing' and 'US war-mongers go home'.
The campaign group's focus is for Britain to get rid of Trident - a system of submarines, missiles and weapons part of the UK's nuclear deterrent. It also wants the UK to "join the global majority of countries who don't have and don't want nuclear weapons."
Members of Drone Wars UK also joined the protest on Saturday. The non-profit organisation challenges the development and use of armed drones.
On its website it says: "Fundamentally opposed to the harm done in the name of military security, our work is rooted in, and contributes to, a growing understanding of sustainable human security.
"Our vision is of a peaceful and just world where governments prioritise investment in human and environmental security rather than military technology."
The conflict in the Middle East has entered its tenth day today (Monday 9 March). Israel has said today that it had begun “a wide-scale wave of strikes” in Iran’s capital, Tehran, and in southern Iran.
In Israel, sirens blared multiple times across the country as Iran’s drones and missiles landed. A woman was wounded by debris in central Israel.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and 11 in Israel, according to officials.
