Amazon has confirmed that two of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates were struck by drones, causing cloud service disruptions across parts of the Middle East.
The attack highlights how rising regional tensions are now affecting global technology infrastructure. Moreover, a nearby drone strike also damaged an Amazon facility in Bahrain.
The incident marks a rare moment when civilian digital infrastructure has been directly impacted by escalating conflict. However, Amazon says recovery efforts are already underway.
According to an update posted on its service dashboard late Monday night, the Amazon UAE data center drone strike caused physical damage to critical infrastructure.
The company explained that facilities in the affected regions suffered structural impact due to drone activity linked to the ongoing Middle East hostilities.
Power systems were disrupted in some locations. In addition, fire suppression systems were triggered in certain areas, which led to further water damage inside the facilities.
On Sunday, Amazon had initially stated that one of its UAE sites was struck by unspecified “objects.” At the time, customers were warned about possible instability. The latest update, however, confirmed that drones were responsible for the damage.
Several Gulf cities have experienced spillover from the widening conflict involving the United States, Israel, and Iran. Consequently, civilian infrastructure has been exposed to
risks.
Amazon did not confirm whether any employees were injured. Nevertheless, it stated that staff safety remains a priority.
Amazon Web Services, known globally as AWS, is the world’s largest cloud computing provider. It powers websites, mobile apps, and artificial intelligence systems across industries. Furthermore, it competes directly with Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud in the global market.
Customers in the affected regions have been advised to back up important data. They have also been encouraged to move workloads to alternative servers where possible. Therefore, businesses are being urged to act quickly to reduce service interruptions.
Meanwhile, service restoration is ongoing, and updates are being shared through Amazon’s dashboard.
