Amazon says drones damaged three facilities in UAE and Bahrain
Source: BBC Technology
Incident Overview
Amazon Web Services (AWS) reported that drones struck three of its facilities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain following U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran over the weekend. The incidents occurred on Sunday morning, with initial reports indicating that “objects” hit a data centre in the UAE, causing sparks and fire, and that power and connectivity issues were being investigated at a facility in Bahrain. On Monday, AWS confirmed that drone strikes were responsible for the outages.
Impact on Facilities
- UAE: Two facilities were hit directly by drones.
- Bahrain: A drone strike in close proximity to a facility caused physical impacts to AWS infrastructure.
The drones caused:
- Structural damage to the data centres
- Disruption of power delivery
- Fire‑suppression activities that resulted in additional water damage
AWS Response
AWS is working to restore services to the affected areas, noting that recovery may take time given the extent of the physical damage. The company has advised customers in the region to:
- Back up their data
- Potentially migrate workloads to alternative AWS facilities worldwide
AWS also warned that the broader operating environment in the Middle East remains unpredictable due to the ongoing conflict.
Regional Context
President Donald Trump has indicated that U.S. strikes on Iran could last four to five weeks, but may extend longer. Iran has been launching waves of missiles and drones against U.S. bases and allied nations across the region, including the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.