Fighters from the Ansar Allah Houthi group participate in a demonstration in Sanaa in solidarity with the Palestinian people (Reuters)
Today, Tuesday, the Ansar Allah Houthi group denied allegations in the Israeli media that they targeted marine communications cables, stressing that it avoids harming any cables in the Red Sea.
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in the Houthi government in Sanaa said, "We deny the validity of what is being promoted by the Zionist enemy media regarding what happened to a number of submarine cables in the Red Sea last Saturday."
The Ministry affirmed, in a statement, that the government “affirms its commitment to Yemen’s general position regarding submarine cables,” and that it renews “its keenness to spare all communications cables and their services from any risks and to provide the necessary facilities for their repair and maintenance.”
The statement added that the decision to prevent the passage of Israeli ships does not apply to ships belonging to international companies licensed to carry out marine cable work in Yemeni waters.
In support of the Palestinian resistance since the escalation of the war on Gaza, the Houthis have been targeting ships owned or operated by Israeli companies or individuals or transporting goods to and from Israel. They have expanded their attacks to include American and British ships following the start of raids on Yemen last January.
The Israeli newspaper Globes claimed that the Houthis damaged 4 communications cables in the Red Sea between Jeddah and Djibouti, and that repairing them may take at least 8 weeks, according to estimates.
The newspaper added that the incident caused a major disruption in Internet communications between Europe and Asia, but the main damage was in the Gulf countries and India.
Source: Al Jazeera + Israeli press