In a major disruption to regional digital infrastructure, power to an Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centre in the United Arab Emirates was cut on Sunday after the facility was struck by unidentified "objects." The impact triggered an electrical fire at the site, coming amidst a fierce and open military conflict involving the US, Israel, and Iran.
The incident targeted one of the company's "Availability Zones" — specifically mec1-az2 — at approximately 4:30 am PST. While AWS has confirmed the physical damage, including sparks and a subsequent blaze that required the fire department to isolate the power, the company has declined to comment on whether the strike was a deliberate act of war.
"One of our Availability Zones was impacted by objects that struck the data centre, creating sparks and fire," a spokesperson stated. Recovery teams have warned that restoring full connectivity will be a lengthy process, though they noted that other zones in the UAE region remain operational.
The strike has caught the attention of global security analysts. Chris McGuire, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, suggested on X that the facility likely fell victim to an Iranian drone. "If this was an Iranian strike, it marks the first time a commercial data centre has been physically targeted in a conflict," he noted. "It won’t be the last."
The hit on the tech giant’s infrastructure comes as the UAE struggles with the wider fallout of Iran’s retaliatory campaign. Over the last 48 hours, several landmarks, ports, and residential districts across the Gulf have reported damage as the regional "shadow war" spills over into a devastatingly public confrontation.
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