Observed Signal · Mar 3, 2026 · Infrastructure Incident · Source: CNBC Technology · Impact: 4/5 · Sentiment: Negative
Amazon Data Centers Hit by Drone Strikes in Middle East
Amazon Web Services said drone strikes damaged two data centers in the United Arab Emirates and one facility in Bahrain, taking those sites offline. The strikes caused structural damage, disrupted power and connectivity, and required fire suppression that led to additional water damage. AWS reported elevated error rates and degraded availability for services including EC2, S3 and DynamoDB and warned recovery could be prolonged due to the physical damage. The company advised customers with workloads in the region to back up data or migrate to other regions and cautioned that instability may continue amid the ongoing Middle East conflict. Separately, Amazon warned of extended delivery times across several Middle East marketplaces after regional missile and drone activity.
An operational outage and physical damage to AWS data centers in the Middle East can disrupt cloud-hosted adtech and martech infrastructure, data access, and campaign delivery; AWS is a major platform whose outages have broad industry impact.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Amazon Web Services said two data centers in the United Arab Emirates were directly struck by drones.
- A facility in Bahrain sustained physical impacts from a nearby drone strike, causing power and connectivity issues.
- AWS reported elevated error rates and degraded availability for EC2, S3 and DynamoDB services in the affected regions.
- AWS described structural damage, disrupted power delivery, and water damage from fire suppression at the sites.
- Amazon warned of extended delivery times across marketplaces in Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE amid regional strikes.
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Drone Strike Hits Amazon Data Centers Amid Regional Tensions
Amazon Web Services reported damage to a Bahrain data center after a nearby drone strike and said two data centers in the United Arab Emirates were directly struck by drones, causing structural damage, power and water disruptions and elevated error rates for some AWS applications. The affected facilities remain offline according to the AWS health dashboard. Iran’s state-linked Fars News Agency and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the strikes targeted the centers for supporting U.S. military activities; CNBC could not independently verify those claims. AWS advised customers to back up data, consider migrating workloads to other regions and redirect traffic away from Bahrain and the UAE. Amazon opened its Bahrain region in 2019 and operates corporate offices there; it has told Middle East corporate staff to work remotely amid the instability.
Drone Strikes Disrupt Amazon UAE Data Centers, Impacting Services
Drone strikes damaged Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers in the United Arab Emirates and caused a nearby strike in Bahrain, taking affected facilities offline and triggering region-wide outages. Consumer apps (Careem, Alaan, Hubpay), banks (ADCB, Emirates NBD), enterprise services including Snowflake, and other digital services reported disruptions tied to AWS infrastructure failures. AWS said strikes caused structural and power-delivery damage and recommended customers migrate workloads to alternate regions while recovery work continues. The attacks occurred amid broader regional escalations following U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, which Tehran then reportedly responded to with waves of attacks targeting critical infrastructure.
AWS disrupted in Bahrain by drone activity
Amazon Web Services reported service disruptions in Bahrain caused by drone activity amid the ongoing Middle East conflict. AWS said it is working with local authorities, prioritizing personnel safety, and has advised customers to migrate applications to alternate AWS Regions, helping many to do so. The outage follows earlier March incidents in the UAE and Bahrain tied to the Iran conflict — including two AWS facilities in the UAE directly struck by drones and a drone strike that landed near AWS facilities in Bahrain causing physical damage. These disruptions have previously led to outages of apps and digital services in the UAE.
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