Houthis Warnings Of Sabotage To Red Sea Internet Cables

Telecoms firms linked to the UN recognised Yemen government have said they fear Houthi rebels are planning to sabotage a network of submarine cables in the Red Sea critical to the functioning of the western internet and the transmission of financial data.

- Patrick Wintour

The warning came after a Houthilinked Telegram channel published a map of the cables running along the bed of the Red Sea. The image was accompanied by a message: "There are maps of international cables connecting all regions of the world through the sea. It seems that Yemen is in a strategic location, as internet lines that connect entire continents - not only countries - pass near it."

Yemen Telecom said it had made diplomatic and legal efforts during the past few years to persuade global international telecom alliances not to have any dealings with the Houthis since it would provide a terrorist group with knowledge of how the submarine cables operated. It has been estimated that the Red Sea carries about 17% of the world's internet traffic along fibre-optic cables.

In a statement, Yemen's General Telecommunications Corporation condemned the threats of the Houthi terrorist militia to target submarine cables.

international It said that as many as 16 of these submarine cables which are often no thicker than a hosepipe and are vulnerable to damage from ships' anchors and earthquakes pass through the Red Sea towards Egypt. One of the most strategic is the 15,500-mile Asia-Africa-Europe AAE-1, which goes from south-east Asia to Europe via the Red Sea.