DUBAI, TUESDAY — Three undersea cables in the Red Sea were cut off. As a result, a quarter of communication lines and the internet between Asia, Europe and the Middle East were disrupted. There are concerns that the undersea cable is being targeted by the Houthi group which is carrying out attacks on ships in the Red Sea. However, the Houthis denied the accusation.

As of Tuesday (5/3/2024), it is unclear what caused the damage to the cable network. Many are worried that the disruption to telecommunications may escalate the security crisis in the Middle East.

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Hong Kong-based HGC Global Communications said the cable networks that were down included Asia-Africa-Europe 1, Europe India Gateway, and Seacom-TGN-Gulf. The network outage affected 25 percent of communications traffic passing through the Red Sea. The network is a crucial route for the movement of data from Asia and Europe.

Quoting from CNN's Monday (4/3/2024) edition, the Asia-Africa-Europe 1 is a 25,000 kilometer-long cable system that connects Southeast Asia to Europe through Egypt. The Europe India Gateway connects Europe, the Middle East, and India.

Despite not mentioning specific targets, the message coincides with the Houthi attack on ships crossing the Red Sea. The BBC edition of February 7, 2024 reported that the internationally recognized exiled Yemeni government warned of a Houthi plan to target the underwater cables.

In February 2024, a cable network was disrupted following a report from the organization NetBlocks, which mentioned that internet access in Djibouti was disrupted two days later. However, the Houthis denied targeting the undersea cable network. They blamed the military operations of the United States and Britain in the Red Sea, even though they did not provide any evidence to support their allegations.

Since January 2024, troops from several countries led by the United States and Britain have attacked Houthi positions in Yemen in response to Houthi attacks on ships passing through the Red Sea. So far, Houthi still can launch attacks on ships. It is believed that Houthi is supported by Iran.


Although considered a threat, it is unclear how the Houthis can attack underwater cables on their own. They are not known to have the ability to dive or to protect themselves when attacking underwater targets located hundreds of meters below the surface.

However, underwater cables may possibly be cut by anchors, including those that may fall from several ships that were damaged due to the Houthi attack. Ships with anchors dragging on the sea floor could become the troublemakers.

"Our team thinks it is highly possible that the damage was caused by anchor drags due to the high traffic of shipping in the area and the shallow seabed in many parts of the Red Sea.However, this can only be confirmed when the repair ship is in place," said Seacom.

Houthi has warned that any ship related to subsea cables entering Yemeni waters must obtain permission from the group. The reason is related to the security of those ships. (AP)

Ts note




Tuduhan saat ini di lempar ke Houthi

tapi ingat belum tentu Houthi yang melakukan nya