UN-recognised government and telecoms firms speak of threat to digital infrastructure, with some submarine cables lying just 100 metres below the surface

Telecom firms linked to the UN-recognised Yemen government said on Sunday 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 to the transmission of financial data.

The warning came after a Houthi-linked 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 both 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 pipes.

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  • DoomBot5@lemmy.worldEnglish
    322·
    10 months ago

    As the article mentions, these are inter-continent cables. They can disrupt quite a bit more than just locals’ internet connections.

      • maness300@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        10 months ago

        I mean, they just have to lower an explosive near them and then detonate it.

        This really isn’t unusually difficult for terrorists.

        • Bennettiquette@lemmy.worldEnglish
          5·
          10 months ago

          i’m not positive that would do it. i know nothing about the physics of an explosive detonating on the sea floor, but the very term “cable” is a bit misleading. these things are seriously thick and intended to last for over 25 years in the corrosive undersea environment.