2024-02-08 13:35:00
The Houthis are threatening to sabotage the vital underwater communications cables, including internet lines, that run under the Red Sea – connecting Asia to Europe. Could the Houthis sabotage these lines? They almost certainly would if they could
The Houthis in Yemen did not hide their determination to respond to the US-led airstrikes against them that targeted their missile and drone launch sites. The US attacked in response to more than 30 attacks by the Houthis on international ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Yemen’s legitimate government, recognized by the United Nations in the city of Aden, has warned that the Houthis, who seized much of Yemen in 2014, are now threatening to sabotage vital undersea communications cables, including internet lines, running under the Red Sea – connecting Asia to Europe
The warning came after a Houthi-linked Telegram channel published a map showing underwater cable routes in the Red Sea.
Could the Houthis sabotage these lines? They almost certainly would if they could. According to the report on the BBC network, the Houthi terrorists claimed that they are in possession of the maps showing the underwater communication cables that run across their coastline, as they pass through the Bab al-Mandab strait.
But the fiber cables, which carry 17% of the world’s Internet traffic, lie on the seabed, mostly hundreds of meters below the sea level – far beyond the reach of divers.
The US and Russia have the naval capability to cut the cables, needing a deep water submarine launched from a mothership, with a pair of giant scissors to cut the cables on the ocean floor. However, it will be more difficult for the Houthis to do so.
“I appreciate that it is not serious, unless it is an attack on a terminal,” says former submarine commander of the British Royal Navy John Gober, about the claims that the Yemeni organization is threatening to sabotage the cables.
The Houthis have Iran and Hezbollah, the Houthis have built a formidable arsenal of missiles and drones. Over the past eight years they have fired these at Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, US and British warships – as well as any vessel they suspect in relations with Israel, the USA or the UK.
So could Iran allow the Houthis to cut the submarine cables?
“There is nothing that I have seen in Iran that can touch these cables, certainly not with their submarines,” said former head of the British Royal Navy Tom Sharpe. “Diving is an option, but it’s deep, so I think it’s not real.”
If Iran allows its allies to sabotage the world’s underwater internet cables, it will also be a dangerous step on Tehran’s part.
The current conflict between the United States and its allies across the Middle East is calibrated to some extent. The US gave several days’ warning before striking Iranian-backed militia bases in Iraq and Syria, allowing key personnel to escape before the attack.
Cutting global communications cables would be a major escalation that could even result in retaliatory attacks on Iran itself.
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