Data centers operated by Amazon in the Middle East have sustained significant damage following a series of drone and missile attacks attributed to Iran, leaving key cloud infrastructure offline for an extended period.
Facilities located in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates—serving Amazon Web Services (AWS) regions ME-CENTRAL-1 and ME-SOUTH-1—have been repeatedly targeted since the United States launched military strikes against Iran in February 2026. According to updates from AWS, the UAE-based region has suffered extensive damage and is currently unable to consistently support customer applications.
Amazon stated that while limited workloads remain operational, clients are being urged to shift their services to alternative regions and recover affected data from backups. Billing for impacted services has been temporarily suspended as restoration efforts begin, though the company cautions that full recovery could take several months.
The initial strikes occurred in early March, with additional drone attacks hitting the Bahrain facility weeks later. The most recent incident, reported in early April, pushed several availability zones into what AWS described as a “hard down” state. Despite partial functionality at both sites, disruptions have persisted, prompting Amazon to prioritize customer migration to avoid further service interruptions.
Beyond direct impact damage, secondary effects have worsened the situation. Shockwaves and fires have compromised sensitive hardware, while fire suppression systems triggered internal flooding. Cooling infrastructure has also experienced mechanical failures, further complicating recovery efforts.
Although an uneasy ceasefire is currently in place as Washington and Tehran engage in negotiations, the situation remains volatile. The risk of renewed hostilities is slowing repair operations, as uncertainty over security conditions continues to loom. Additionally, ongoing global semiconductor shortages could delay the replacement of damaged components, potentially prolonging downtime unless Amazon can deploy backup systems already in reserve.
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