Internet outages in Asia and the Middle East due to cable cuts

Microsoft has announced that the Middle East "may experience increased latency due to undersea fiber outages in the Red Sea."

The US technology company did not reveal further details, although it did say that Internet traffic that does not pass through the Middle East "is not being affected."

NetBlocks, which analyzes internet access, said that "a series of outages on undersea cables in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in several countries," including India and Pakistan.

The company blamed "faults affecting the SMW4 and IMEWE cable systems near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia."

The Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe (SMW4) cable is operated by Tata Communications, which is part of an Indian conglomerate, while the India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE) cable is operated by another consortium led by the French multinational Alcatel-Lucent.

In the United Arab Emirates, internet users on the state-owned Du and Etisalat networks have complained of slower access speeds.

The cut in lines comes at a time when Yemen's Houthi rebels have been exchanging a series of attacks against Israel, as a result of the Israeli offensive against the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Israel responded with airstrikes, including one that killed key leaders of the rebel movement.

In early 2024, Yemen's internationally recognized government-in-exile alleged that the Houthis planned to attack submarine cables in the Red Sea. Several were cut, but the rebels denied responsibility.

This morning, the Houthi-owned al-Masirah satellite news channel acknowledged that the outages had occurred, but made no comment on the reason for the incident.

Between November 2023 and December 2024, rebels targeted more than 100 ships with missiles and drones, causing the sinking of four vessels and the deaths of at least eight sailors.

The Iran-backed Houthis halted attacks during a brief ceasefire.

They later became the target of a weeks-long campaign of US airstrikes before the US declared a unilateral ceasefire.

The Houthis sank two ships in July, killing at least four people on board, and other vessels are believed to be in rebel hands.

The new rebel attacks came as a possible ceasefire in the war between Israel and Hamas remains in doubt.

Negotiations over Iran's nuclear program are also at stake, after Israel attacked the Islamic Republic, an offensive in which the US bombed Iranian atomic facilities.

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