On September 6, 2025, at 06:00 UTC, Microsoft released a statement indicating that multiple submarine cables had been disrupted in the waters off Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The affected cables include the SMW4 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe No. 4 Submarine Cable), IMEWE (India-Middle East-Western Europe Submarine Cable), FALCON GCX (Southeast Asia-India-Middle East), and the Europe India Gateway. This incident has led to significant latency issues in the cross-regional data transmission of Microsoft Azure cloud services, specifically impacting routes from the Middle East to both Asia and Europe. Some traffic delays have soared to 3-4 times their normal levels. In response, Microsoft has promptly activated its contingency plan, rerouting traffic through alternative network pathways. However, enterprise users who rely on Asia-Europe cross-regional connections continue to experience fluctuations in service performance. According to a report from network monitoring agency NetBlocks, internet speeds in countries such as India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait have seen a marked decline. This slowdown has rendered real-time applications, including video conferencing and online gaming, nearly unusable. Repairing the damaged submarine cables will require specialized vessels and is expected to take several weeks. Moreover, the complex geopolitical landscape in the Red Sea region presents additional challenges for the repair efforts.