The organization “NetBlocks” reported that a malfunction affected cable systems near Jeddah, impacting connectivity in countries including India and Pakistan. Telecom companies in Pakistan and the UAE reported similar issues, while Saudi Arabia has not officially announced details of the outage, according to Western media. Meanwhile, the American company “Microsoft” announced that some of its submarine cables were affected, impacting its Azure cloud services. The company explained in a statement on its website that traffic through the Middle East might experience slowdowns and longer latency, confirming that its engineers are working on rerouting data and discussing alternatives with service providers. Repairing submarine cables is a complex process that can take weeks, whether the damage is accidental or intentional. These developments come amid rising tension in the Red Sea, where the “Ansar Allah” group in Yemen continues its attacks on maritime navigation since the outbreak of the war between Israel and the Palestinian “Hamas” movement.
