Damaged Internet Subsea Cables Repaired in Red Sea Amid Militant Attacks on Ships

Repairs have finally commenced on three subsea telecommunications cables that were damaged in the Red Sea in February, even as Houthi militants escalate their attacks on ships in the area. From a report: The AAE-1 cable, a 25,000-kilometer (15,500 miles) fiber optic link between Asia and Europe, was repaired by a ship owned by E-Marine, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi-based Emirates Telecommunications Group. The cable came online this week, a Yemeni government official said. The same ship, Niwa, remains in Yemeni waters to repair the remaining two cables, Seacom and EIG.

The cables, among more than a dozen that run through the Red Sea, were severed by the anchor of a cargo ship sunk by Iran-backed Houthi militants in late February. Repairs to the cables have depended on gaining access to infrastructure in Yemen's waters, a task complicated by the country's split government and the fact the Red Sea is a conflict zone. It has taken months of negotiations involving the cable operators and the two factions that control Yemen -- the internationally-recognized government in the south and the Houthi-backed government in Sanaa -- to arrange for the repair mission.

Working underwater is hard.

[mmell]

We evolved to live in an incredibly more hostile environment; the result is the underwater environment is quite hostile to us. Terrorists can use cheap tools to cause expensive damage (asymetric warfare), but getting under a few hundred feet of water to commit sabotage is just as difficult as going down there to put the cable there was. Sure, dragging an anchor around is easy and cheap - until everyone sees you doing it. Then, you'd better be big enough to do it with impunity or you're going to lose more than you gain - and at that point, why fight using guerrilla tactics?

Re:

[Tim the Gecko]

The cables tend to be broken by dragging anchors, and

at its core, cable repair is still a matter of a ship dragging a big hook along the ocean floor

(from a fascinating article [theverge.com] at The Verge)

Solve the problem

[Fuzi719]

Why can't the "Houthis" be bombed into oblivion already? It's not like they're an advanced civilization. Carpet bomb the whole f'ing peninsula, make it a sea of molten glass and be done with their sorry ass for good.

Re:

[NotEmmanuelGoldstein]

... bombed into oblivion ...

There's a word for eliminating an entire culture: Genocide, yes even of Houthis or the Hamas cult. Which country would perform this "carpet-bombing" of Yemen? "National security" and "justified response" cover a lot of first-world violence but the "Gulf of Tonkin" scenario isn't going to excuse interfering in a civil war, this time. Otherwise, the USA is limited to bombing by order of the UN.

The USA could invade but it wants a profit from that: A less desirable action because it's usually profitable

Re: Solve the problem

[spinitch]

Houthis control the spice no that aint it but they r able to hide among innocent civilians much like Hamas. Dont put the cable in their vicinity lay a different route . That ll learn ya