Amazon's cloud computing division temporarily shut down power at a UAE data center after debris struck the building, causing sparks and igniting a fire. The incident occurred amid regional tensions following Iranian missile and drone attacks across the Gulf region.
Amazon Web Services experienced a significant disruption at one of its Middle Eastern data centers on Sunday after debris collided with the facility in the United Arab Emirates, causing electrical sparks and igniting a blaze that required emergency response.
The incident comes as the UAE faces ongoing security challenges from Iran’s recent retaliatory attacks using missiles and drones, which targeted the country’s aviation hubs, shipping facilities, and civilian neighborhoods following military actions by the United States and Israel against Iranian targets.
AWS officials declined to specify whether the data center incident was related to the regional military strikes when questioned by Reuters reporters.
The company issued a statement detailing the emergency: “At around 4:30 AM PST, one of our AvailabilityZones (mec1-az2) was impacted by objects that struck the datacenter, creating sparks and fire.”
Amazon defines an Availability Zone as a cluster of interconnected physical data centers that operate as isolated units within broader regional networks to ensure service reliability.
Emergency responders from the local fire department disconnected electrical power to the damaged facility as crews battled the flames, according to AWS officials.
The cloud computing giant warned customers that restoring network connections to the affected zone would require several hours of work, though other UAE-based data centers continued normal operations throughout the incident.
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