Britain will broaden its military footprint in the Middle East with the establishment of a permanent military base at the Mina Salman Port in Bahrain.
An agreement on this was signed in Manama by the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa.
The naval base will become the springboard for Britain’s involvement in the Middle East, most importantly its operations in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led coalition against the armies of the Islamic State.
The U.K. already has four mine-hunter warships permanently based in Bahrain that supports British destroyers and frigates in the Gulf. The new base will “bolster the existing facilities at the Port, providing the Royal Navy with a forward operating base and a place to plan, store equipment for naval operations and accommodate Royal Navy personnel,” a release from the Foreign Office states.
The base will be built by Bahrain at an estimated cost of £ 15 million, with the British underwriting the ongoing costs. It will be completed in 2015.
"We will now be based again in the Gulf for the long term," said U.K.’s Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.
Bahrain used to be a protectorate of the British, which is returning to the country with such a big security presence after a gap of 40 years.
The country already hosts the Naval Support Activity Bahrain controlled by the U.S. government, which is the port where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is positioned. It is also where the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command for the region is headquartered.
