Houthi attacks in the Red Sea cut three undersea data cables

Three undersea cables in the Red Sea that provide internet and telecommunications around the world have been cut along the sea route, which continues to be targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the company responsible said on Monday.

In a statement, Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications acknowledged the cuts but did not say what caused them.

The fact that the cables are the target of a Houthi campaign, which the rebels describe as an attempt to pressure Israel to end the war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, is cause for concern. However, the Houthis deny attacking the cables.

While global shipping through the Red Sea, a critical route for transporting cargo and energy from Asia and the Middle East to Europe, is already disrupted, sabotage of telecommunications lines could further worsen the long-running crisis.

The cut lines include Asia-Africa-Europe 1, Europe India Gateway, Seacom and TGN-Gulf, HGC Global Communications said.

The company indicated that the cuts affected 25% of traffic crossing the Red Sea, a route it said was also “crucial” for data transfers from Asia to Europe.

HGC Global Communications, which said it had already begun rerouting traffic, described the Seacom-TGN-Gulf line as two separate cables, although in reality it is just one cable in the cut area, according to cable expert Tim Strong. , a Washington-based telecommunications market research firm.

In response to questions from The Associated Press (AP), Seacom said “initial tests show the affected segment is within the maritime jurisdiction of Yemen, in the southern Red Sea,” and that the company was rerouting traffic that had diverted, although some services remained inactive.

Tata Communications, part of the Indian conglomerate and responsible for the Seacom-TGN-Gulf line, told the AP that it “took immediate and appropriate corrective action” after the line outage, investing in several cable consortiums to reroute services.

In early February, Yemen’s internationally recognized government in exile warned that the Houthis were planning to attack the cables. The lines appeared to be down on February 24 when the organization NetBlocks discovered that internet access in the East African country of Djibouti suffered an outage two days later. Seacom serves Djibouti.

But for their part, the Houthis deny they attacked the cables and blame the disruption on British and US military operations, but have not provided evidence to support that claim, as they have done in the past.

“Military activities in Yemen by British and US naval units have disrupted submarine cables in the Red Sea, threatening the security of international communications and the normal flow of information,” the Houthi-controlled Ministry of Transport said. in Sanaa, Yemen’s rebel-controlled capital.

Since November, rebels have repeatedly attacked ships in the Red Sea and surrounding waters due to the war between Israel and Hamas. The ships included at least one carrying cargo destined for Iran, the Houthis’ main backer, as well as an aid ship that later headed to Yemen.

Despite more than a month and a half of US-led airstrikes, the Houthis remain capable of carrying out serious attacks, including an attack in February on the fertilizer cargo ship Rubimar, which sank on Saturday after drifting sideways for days and shooting down a North American ” drone” (unmanned aerial vehicle) worth tens of millions of dollars.

The Houthis insist their attacks will continue until Israel ends its fighting in the Gaza Strip, which has angered the Arab world and earned the rebels international recognition.