Cloud services across Middle East disrupted after drone strikes hit Amazon data centres in UAE
By Sabiu Abdullahi
Smoke rose over parts of Beirut on Tuesday after Israeli airstrikes targeted the southern suburbs, highlighting the spillover of the Middle East conflict into key civilian infrastructure across the Gulf.
Tech giant Amazon confirmed late Monday that drones had “directly struck” two of its data centres in the United Arab Emirates, causing disruptions to cloud services in parts of the region.
The company also reported that a facility in Bahrain suffered damage from “a drone strike in close proximity,” adding to interruptions for customers who rely on its cloud infrastructure.
In an update on its service dashboard, Amazon explained that the affected regions “experienced physical impacts to infrastructure as a result of drone strikes” amid ongoing hostilities.
“These strikes have caused structural damage, disrupted power delivery to our infrastructure, and in some cases required fire suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage,” the company said.
Amazon’s disclosure represents a rare acknowledgment of direct attacks on major commercial cloud infrastructure in the Gulf. It underscores the vulnerabilities of global technology networks amid the escalating war involving the United States, Israel, and Iran.
Reports indicate that several Gulf cities have faced collateral damage from strikes and stray weaponry since US and Israeli forces launched operations on Iran, which allegedly led to the deaths of Iran’s supreme leader and other top officials.
The company did not provide information on whether any employees were injured. It added that it is coordinating closely with local authorities while “prioritising the safety of our personnel throughout our recovery efforts.”
Amazon Web Services, the world’s largest cloud computing provider, supports thousands of applications, websites, and generative AI platforms globally. It competes with Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud in providing large-scale digital infrastructure.
Amazon advised customers in the affected regions to back up critical data and consider relocating workloads to servers elsewhere as engineers work to restore full functionality.
On Sunday, the company had reported that one of its UAE facilities had been hit by unspecified “objects,” warning customers of potential service interruptions.
