Houthi attacks in the Red Sea may have a surprising new victim – internet users.
Undersea data cables in the Red Sea were damaged in attacks by Iran-backed groups, according to multiple reports.
A month ago, Yemen’s U.N.-recognized government in Aden said the Houthis were threatening to disrupt vital cables linking Asia to Europe.
But what happened? Will it cause internet outages?
Let’s take a closer look:
First, let’s look at submarine cables.
according to Wall Street Journal, Most internet traffic between Europe and East Asia travels through cables laid at the southern end of the Red Sea.
Traffic from passing ships has long been considered a risk to the cables, the newspaper reported.
But now Houthi attacks have made the area even more dangerous.
Cables to four major telecommunications networks were “severed” on Monday, CNN reported.
The 15,000-km-long Europe-India Gateway, which connects Europe, West Asia and India, has been affected.
The 25,000-kilometer Asia-Africa-Europe cable system connecting Southeast Asia to Europe via Egypt was also damaged.
The outlet quoted Hong Kong telecommunications company Hutchison Global Crossing as saying there had been “significant disruptions” to communications networks in West Asia.
The company said 25% of traffic between Asia and Europe, including West Asia, was affected.
The company said it was rerouting traffic to minimize disruption and “providing assistance to affected businesses.”
It did not say who was responsible for the outage.
according to Technical point website, These cables account for 17% of global Internet traffic.
The damage was said to be “significant, but not serious”. Thanks to the many other cables in the area.
Repairs are likely to take at least eight weeks, according to the website. Those assigned to the job may also face Houthi attacks.
This is not the first time such a power outage has occurred.
“It’s too early to tell whether there was an act of vandalism.”
according to wall street journal On February 24, three cables suddenly stopped providing service to some markets.
The newspaper quoted Doug Madory, director of research firm Kentik, as saying that while no regions were online, services were affected in parts of India, Pakistan and East Africa.
Although the cause of the incident was not mentioned, some experts said that the Rubymar, a cargo ship attacked by Houthi armed forces on February 18, may be the culprit.
The anchored boat was seen drifting in the area.
Bloomberg South African company Seacom Ltd said the problem lay in areas where the Houthis attacked ships with missiles and drones.
“It’s too early to tell whether this is an act of vandalism,” said Prenesh Padayachee, chief digital officer at Seacom.
“Only when we lift the cable can we see if someone has cut it.”
according to Technical point website, In December, a Houthi-linked channel released a map of undersea cables in the Red Sea.
“There are maps of international cables connecting the world through the ocean. Yemen appears to be in a strategic location because internet lines connecting the entire continent, not just the country, pass near it.”
But the Houthi-backed telecommunications ministry in Sanaa said it was not responsible.
The report said the government was “keen to keep all undersea telecommunications cables… away from any possible risk”.
The ministry has not commented on the Rubima attack.
CNN The Houthis may have been behind the cable damage, Israeli news outlet Globe reported, citing a report.
But Yemeni rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi has disputed such claims.
“We have no intention of targeting submarine cables that provide internet to countries in the region,” he said.
To be fair, the vast majority of damage to submarine cables is caused by fishing equipment or anchors. Bloomberg.
In addition, according to British Broadcasting CorporationThe “cut” fibers lay nicely on the seabed – not an easy task for divers.
What do the experts say?
Experts say any reports of threats from the Houthis should be taken with a grain of salt.
“I think it’s a bluff, unless it’s a terminal attack,” said Rear Admiral John Gower, a former Royal Navy submarine commander.
“It needs a capable ally, [someone with] Submersible plus positioning capabilities [the cables]”.
I saw nothing in the Iranian Orbat (order of battle) that could touch these cables, certainly not their submarines,” added former Royal Navy Commander Tom Sharp.
“Diving is an option, but it’s deep and busy, so I think that will push it,” he said. “I thought it was a bluff.”
But the incidents have drawn attention to the risks that undersea cables in the Red Sea may face.
In November, internet access in the war-torn country of Yemen was paralyzed for several hours.
Officials later claimed “maintenance work” was to blame for the outage.
The disruption was to YemenNet, the main provider to some 10 million users in the country, which ironically is now controlled by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The outage was reported by NetBlocks, an organization that tracks Internet outages, and CloudFlare, an Internet services company. The pair did not provide a reason for the outage.
“Data shows the issue is also impacting connectivity at a national level,” CloudFlare said.
In a statement to the Houthi-controlled Saba state news agency, Yemen’s public telecommunications company blamed the outage on maintenance.
“Internet services will be restored after maintenance work is completed,” the statement quoted an unnamed official as saying.
The undersea FALCON cable transmits internet to Yemen through the port of Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast, servicing TeleYemen. FALCON cables also land in Yemen’s far eastern port of Ghaydah, but most of Yemen’s population lives in the western region along the Red Sea coast.
GCX, the company that operates the cable, later issued a statement saying the line was “undergoing scheduled maintenance.”
According to the opinion of the institution