According to Israel's Globe newspaper, three months after a series of attacks on merchant ships bound for Israel, the Houthis have once again used their threat to cut off four submarine communication cables between Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Djibouti, East Africa, on the Red Sea seabed.
The four severed cables from AAE-1, Seacom, EIG and TGN are the lifelines that sustain Internet communications between Europe and Asia. At the moment, however, they are paralyzed, and the main communications between the Persian Gulf countries and India have been devastated.
Although the damage to the cable was reported to be severe, it was not fatal as there were other cables passing through the area. It will take at least eight weeks to repair the four submarine cables, and in the meantime, the telecom companies will have to face the danger of Houthi attacks. In their statement, telcos admitted that in order to repair these submarine cables, they will have to seek repair companies that dare to take a high-risk premium.
It is worth noting that the EIG (European Gateway to India) cable connects Southern Europe with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, the UAE and India. The AAE-1 cable is responsible for connecting East Asia and Europe, connecting Asia with the Western world. The Seacom cable maintains communications between Europe, Africa (including South Africa) and India. Today, the damage to these four cables has undoubtedly brought great distress and impact to these areas.