UK forces in the Middle East region

This briefing outlines the main bases and facilities used by UK armed forces in the wider Middle East region. It is based on information in the public domain as of October 2024. It does not include details on UK forces currently engaged in training or military exercises in the region. This is not intended to reflect the entirety of the UK armed forces in the Middle East at any one time.

Current major UK military operations in the Middle East

UK armed forces are involved in three major military operations in the wider Middle East region. These are:

• Operation Kipion, a long-standing maritime security mission in the Arabian/Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.
• Operation Shader, the UK’s contribution to the global campaign against Daesh in Iraq and Syria since 2014.
• Operation Prosperity Guardian, a US-led coalition to support freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, begun in late 2023 in response to Yemeni-based Houthi attacks on international shipping.

This list does not include humanitarian operations, such as supporting Jordanian-led airdrops of humanitarian supplies into Gaza in 2023/24, or exercises and training deployments. Additional units, notably naval vessels and aircraft, have been deployed during periods of increased tension.

Major bases and facilities

Royal Air Force

The Sovereign Bases on Cyprus are home to the only permanent joint operating base in the wider region. RAF combat aircraft fly from Cyprus for Operation Shader. Transport, air-to-air refuelling and reconnaissance aircraft also operate from Cyprus.

The RAF’s operational headquarters in the Middle East is at Al Udeid air base in Qatar. The RAF also has use of Al Minhad airbase in the United Arab Emirates, where it opened new facilities in March 2024, and Al Musannah airbase in Oman.

Royal Navy

The UK Naval Support Facility in Bahrain is the main naval facility in the Persian Gulf for UK naval vessels. Four mine-counter measure vessels and one Type 23 frigate are permanently based there, supported by a Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel.

A permanent joint support facility in Duqm, Oman, opened in 2018, provides a permanent maritime base outside the Persian Gulf and a maintenance facility. The base can support the UK’s aircraft carriers when they are in the Indian Ocean. The base is also home for Royal Marines forward based in Oman.

Army

Army units are permanently deployed to Cyprus (on a rotating basis) and can be deployed to the wider region. In 2023 the army began four-month long training deployments to Oman.

A strategic hub in Oman

In 2024 the MOD said it is developing a “strategic hub” in Oman to “provide a platform from which we can project assets and increase training operations with regional partners with greater frequency”.

Numbers of personnel

Numbers of personnel in the region vary depending on operational requirements. The location of personnel permanently stationed worldwide can be found in the Ministry of Defence’s Annual Location Statistics. However, these do not reflect personnel temporarily deployed on operations to the region. 

The Ministry of Defence does not disclose the location or deployments of UK Special Forces.

Further reading on the Middle East in 2023/24

Commons Library briefings on the situation in Israel, Lebanon, Yemen and Iran, which include information on UK armed forces deployments and activity, are collated on the Library’s website: Middle East instability in 2023/24