AWS Data Centers in UAE and Bahrain Damaged by Drone Strikes, Recovery Underway
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Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain were damaged by Iranian drone strikes two months ago, leaving the ME-CENTRAL-1 and ME-SOUTH-1 cloud regions unable to support customer applications. AWS has suspended billing for affected customers and is working to restore normal operations, a process expected to take several months. The company initially waived an estimated $150 million in usage charges for March 2026.
Facts First
- AWS data centers in the UAE and Bahrain were damaged by Iranian drone strikes two months ago.
- The affected cloud regions are ME-CENTRAL-1 and ME-SOUTH-1, which are currently unable to support customer applications.
- AWS has suspended billing for affected customers while restoring operations.
- Full restoration is expected to take several months to complete.
- Amazon waived an estimated $150 million in usage charges for March 2026 for affected customers.
What Happened
Iranian drone strikes two months ago caused damage to Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain. The affected cloud regions are identified as ME-CENTRAL-1 and ME-SOUTH-1. An AWS dashboard update confirmed these regions are currently unable to support customer applications. In response, AWS has suspended relevant billing operations while it works to restore normal service.
Why this Matters to You
If you or your organization rely on applications hosted in the AWS ME-CENTRAL-1 or ME-SOUTH-1 regions, your services have been disrupted. AWS's suspension of billing for these regions provides temporary financial relief for affected customers, and the company's initial $150 million charge waiver demonstrates a significant effort to mitigate customer costs. This incident highlights a tangible risk to cloud service continuity from geopolitical conflict, which may prompt businesses to review their data resilience and geographic redundancy strategies.
What's Next
AWS is actively working to restore normal operations to the damaged data centers. The company has stated this restoration process is expected to take several months to complete. During this recovery period, AWS will likely continue its policy of suspending billing for the affected regions. Customers dependent on these services may need to maintain contingency plans or migrate workloads to other available AWS regions for the foreseeable future.