According to the Guardian, Telecom firms connected to the UN-recognized Yemen government have expressed fears that Houthi rebels are planning to sabotage a network of submarine cables in the Red Sea. These cables are critical for the functioning of the Interent. The concerns were raised after a Houthi-linked Telegram channel published a map of the cables running along the bed of the Red Sea, highlighting Yemen's strategic location.

Internet cables in Red Sea carries close to 20% of the global Internet traffic. Most of Euro-Asia digital communication comes through these cables, including critical ones such as the Asia-Africa-Europe AE-1, stretching over 15,500 miles from southeast Asia to Europe via the Red Sea.

These cables are vulnerable to damage from ships' anchors and earthquakes. So far, they were not target of terrorist or criminal attacks as cutting Internet cable requires advanced technical capabilities. However as a depth of Red Sea is at some points 100 meters this would be within the reach of simpler divers capabilities.

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