General Discussion

... and one in Bahrain.



Damage to three Amazon Data Centers, two in the United Arab Emerates and one in Bahrain.

Snip

These attacks highlight the importance of data centers to civilian society and their growing operational significance in contemporary warfare. The increasing reliance on cloud computing and artificial intelligence (AI) also raises a number of intricate issues that have been at the heart of controversy over the application of rules governing the “conduct of hostilities,” which form part of the body of international law known as the law of armed conflict (LOAC). Do data centers qualify as lawful military objectives? If so, under what circumstances are they subject to attack? And what precautions must be taken before attacking those used for civilian purposes as well? We tackle these and related LOAC issues in this article.

Link,

https://www.justsecurity.org/133685/iranian-attacks-amazon-data-centers-legal-analysis/




Under water data cables in the Red Sea damaged due to the Iranian War.

Commentary by Sean Monaghan, Michael Darrah, Eskil Jakobsen, and Otto Svendsen

Published March 7, 2024

Internet connectivity between parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe suddenly slowed on February 24 when three undersea cables were damaged in the Red Sea. This caused “a significant impact on communication networks in the Middle East,” according to Hong Kong telecoms company HGC Global Communications. The Red Sea is a choke point for global maritime trade—a fact Yemen’s Houthi rebels have taken advantage of by targeting global shipping with missile attacks in recent months. But the sea is also an internet and telecommunications bottleneck. An estimated 90 percent of communications between Europe and Asia and 17 percent of global internet traffic traverse cables under the 14-mile-wide Bab al Mandab Strait.

The Yemeni government warned in early February that Houthi rebels might target undersea cables. Although the rebels denied responsibility, it turned out they were in fact culpable—just not in the way many had expected. According to U.S. officials, the cables were cut by the anchor of the sinking ship the Rubymar, a UK-owned commercial vessel that took on water after it was struck by a missile fired by the Houthis on February 18. The ship then dropped its anchor and drifted for several days. It finally sank on Saturday.

https://www.csis.org/analysis/red-sea-cable-damage-reveals-soft-underbelly-global-economy