AWS Abandons Bahrain Recovery, Loses 1 UAE Zone After Iran Drone Strikes

3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Sep 15

AWS said it cannot restore access to resources and data hosted exclusively in Bahrain and in 1 availability zone in the UAE, more than six months after wartime drone strikes damaged the sites.
Multiple Bahrain facilities suffered damage beyond what AWS systems are designed to withstand, while the company is still trying to recover 2 other affected UAE zones.
March disclosures said 2 UAE data centers were directly hit and a Bahrain facility was damaged by a nearby strike; AWS had already told customers to shift workloads to other regions as instability persisted.
Iran's Revolutionary Guard claimed the attacks and said it targeted the Bahrain facility over Amazon's support for the U.S. military.
The setback adds to Gulf data-center security concerns around AI infrastructure, including the UAE's 5-gigawatt Stargate project, which is now weighing dispersed sites, underground builds and stronger defenses.