Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea disrupted internet access in parts of Asia and the Middle East, experts said on Sunday, but it is not immediately clear what caused the incident.
There were concerns about cable being targeted in the Red Sea campaign by the Hooty Rebels in Yemen. War with Hamas In the Gaza Strip. However, Houthis has denied attacking the line in the past.
Submarine cables, along with satellite connections and land cables, are one of the backbones of the Internet. Typically, an Internet service provider has multiple access points and will reroute traffic in case of failure, but it can slow down the user’s access.
Microsoft announced on its status website that the Middle East “cutting submarine fibers in the Red Sea could increase its potential.” The Redmond, Washington-based company did not immediately elaborate, but said that internet traffic that is not travelling through the Middle East is “unaffected.”
Internet access monitoring NetBlocks said “sequential outages of submarine cables in the Red Sea have degraded internet connectivity in several countries,” including India and Pakistan. It condemned the “faults affecting SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.”
Southeast Asia – Middle East and West Europe Four Cable is operated by Tata Communications, part of an Indian conglomerate. India Middle East Western European Cable is run by another consortium overseen by Alcaterlucent. Neither company responded immediately to requests for comment.
Pakistan Telecommunications Co. Ltd., the country’s telecommunications giant, noted in a statement on Saturday that the cuts were made.
Saudi Arabia immediately did not approve of the confusion, and authorities there did not respond to requests for comment.
In the United Arab Emirates, home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, internet users of the country’s state-owned DU and Etisarat networks complained of slow internet speeds. The government immediately did not acknowledge the confusion.
Submarine cables can be disconnected by anchors dropped from the ship, but can also be targeted in attacks. It can take several weeks for repairs to take place as a ship, and crews must find themselves on the damaged cables.
A cut of the boundary line occurs as Yemeni Hooti rebels remain trapped in a series of Israel-targeted attacks over the Israeli-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Israel responded with airstrikes, including those that killed top leaders in the rebel movement.
In early 2024, Yemen’s internationally recognized government in exile claimed that the Houtis had planned to attack the submarine cables in the Red Sea. Some have been cut off, Houthis denied liability. On Sunday morning, the Al-Masirah Satellite News Channel from Houthis confirmed that the cut was made, citing NetBlocks.
From November 2023 to December 2024, Houthis targeted more than 100 ships equipped with missiles and drones during the Israeli Hama War in the Gaza Strip. In previous campaigns, Houthis has sunk four ships and killed at least eight Mariners.
The Iran-backed Houtis stopped the attack during a brief ceasefire in the war. They became targets later A fierce campaign for several weeks The air strike ordered by President Donald Trump before he declared that he had reached rebels. Hotel Two ships were sunk in July.killing at least four people on board, others are believed to be held by rebels.
The new attacks on Houthis will be a new potential ceasefire in the Israeli Hamas War. Meanwhile, the future of talks between the US and Iran Tehran’s abused nuclear program It’s in question after Israel launched a 12-day war with the Islamic Republic, and Americans bombed three atomic sites in Iran.
