Spain Makes Four Incursions Into Gibraltar In One Day
Today Spain made four incursions into Gibraltar's waters, involving three Guardia Civil vessels & one Spanish Navy vessel.
The first incursion was made this morning Spanish Navy OPV Atalaya, as the vessel made its way towards Gibraltars waters the Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Sabre was waiting for it to enter & follow it through the Bay until it was out of British waters. This makes it a total of 14 incursions this year so far by Spanish authorities.
Yesterday on April 25th the OPV Atalaya was noted as making patrols of Spanish territories in Morocco & was being tracked by people over at #OpWest. So based on the common patrol pattern it was expected to make an incursion. During the incursion, the Spanish Navy OPV wrongfully told HMS Sabre that the Royal Navy vessel was in Spanish waters.
Spanish Navy OPV Atalaya in Gibraltars waters.
Photo - Raymond Risso
https://twitter.com/RissoRaymond/status/1254351505504731136?s=20
Then at 12:59 pm a Guardia Civil incurred heading close to the wall of Gibraltars Naval Base.
This was then followed by another Guardia Civil vessel at 14:18 pm this one was chased back by a Royal Navy RHIB. The 4th incursion came one hour later at 15:18 pm. Once again it was another Guardia Civil vessel.
Photos were taken of the 3rd & 4th incursions by Michael J Sanchez.
As previously stated this makes it 14 incursions now by the Spanish Authorities this year. Along with Spanish aircraft flying over Gibraltar & the incident involving a USMC KC-130 that was conducting an exercise with RAF Gibraltar & ordered to stop by Spain.
The Foreign & Commonwealth Office is yet to issue a statement or acknowledgment of the incidents at the time of writing this. There have been many calls for some stronger language or response from the FCO as this year has seen a high number of incursions. The issues Spain causes with Gibraltar gained some attention in the wake of the previously mentioned KC-130 incident. Little has been said about that matter & has appeared to been swept under the carpet. Earlier this year it was reported that HMS Trent would be based in Gibraltar as part of the wider Royal Navy strategy of forward basing OPVs. While HMS Trent’s mission would be focused on areas such as North Africa & not Spain. You can’t help but feel at least having it operate our of Gibraltar would be at least somewhat reassuring to many residents even if it’s not dealing with Spain. The air incursions could arguably be seen as more dangerous due to the potential consequences of an accident. Very little can arguably be done about air incursions due to the speed in which the offending aircraft enters & leaves. However, the KC-130 incident is more than just Spain claiming sovereignty the Spanish authorities were acting as if they have authority & sovereignty on territory that does not belong to them.