Undersea cables severed in Red Sea, disrupting internet access in parts of Mideast and Asia

Undersea cable cuts in the Red Sea disrupted internet access in parts of Asia and the Middle East, experts say, though it wasn’t immediately clear what caused the incident.

There has been concern about the cables being targeted in a Red Sea campaign by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which the rebels describe as an effort to pressure Israel to end its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip. But the Houthis have denied attacking the lines in the past.

Microsoft announces via a status website that the Mideast “may experience increased latency due to undersea fiber cuts in the Red Sea.” The Redmond, Washington-based firm does not immediately elaborate, though it says that internet traffic not moving through the Middle East “is not impacted.”

NetBlocks, which monitors internet access, says “a series of subsea cable outages in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries,” which it says include India and Pakistan. It blames “failures affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.”

The South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 4 cable is run by Tata Communications, part of the Indian conglomerate. The India-Middle East-Western Europe cable is run by another consortium overseen by Alcatel-Lucent. Both firms do not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Pakistan Telecommunications Co. Ltd., a telecommunication giant in that country, notes that the cuts have taken place in a statement on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia does not immediately acknowledge the disruption and authorities there do not respond to a request for comment.

In the United Arab Emirates, home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, internet users on the country’s state-owned Du and Etisalat networks are complaining of slower internet speeds. The government does not immediately acknowledge the disruption.

Subsea cables can be cut by anchors dropped from ships, but can also be targeted in attacks.