Communications in danger – El Tempo

The Yemeni Navy, under the control of the Houthis, attacked the American tanker Turm Thor, located in the Gulf of Aden, with missiles and drones, and also attacked some American warships in the Red Sea. This was announced by Al-Masirah newspaper, affiliated with the Yemeni Shiite movement allied with Hamas and supported by Iran. but this is not all. The militants allegedly destroyed four submarine cables in the Red Sea, between Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Djibouti, East Africa.

The Israeli economic newspaper “Globes” reported that the damaged cables are AAE-1 (Asia – Africa – Europe 1), with a length of 25 thousand kilometers, from Southeast Asia to Europe, passing through Egypt, which connects Hong Kong. Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Greece, Italy and France); Seacom (17,000 km cable connecting South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Djibouti, France and India); Europe-India Gateway (Eig), a 15,000 km fiber optic cable linking the UK, Portugal, Gibraltar, Monaco, France, Libya, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, UAE and India; TGN.

The damage caused by the Houthis “has already caused serious disruptions in Internet communications between Europe and Asia, especially in the Gulf states and India,” Globes reported. It is estimated that the damage to telecommunications assets is significant, but not serious because other cables pass through the same area linking Asia, Africa and Europe and were not affected. According to estimates, repairing such a large number of submarine cables could take at least eight weeks, and may involve exposure to risks resulting from Houthi activities. Telecom companies will have to look for companies willing to carry out the repair work and potentially pay them a high-risk premium.