AWS Bahrain Faces Disruption Due to Drone Activity, Amazon Reveals
On March 23, Amazon said its AWS region in Bahrain was disrupted amid the current Middle East conflict. The company attributed the interruption to drone activity near the site.
Filmogaz.com first reported the development following an inquiry. Amazon did not say whether the facility was directly struck or affected by nearby blasts.
Operational impact and customer response
AWS is assisting customers to migrate workloads to other regions during recovery efforts. The company declined to provide details on damage extent or expected downtime.
The AWS status page had not shown an update late Monday. Amazon advised clients with workloads in the affected region to relocate them.
Context and prior incidents this month
This marks the second instance in a month that the Bahrain region has been hit by conflict-related disruption. Earlier, AWS said facilities in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates lost power.
The UAE incident involved a strike that Amazon said affected a data center. That attack was the first known case of military action disrupting a major U.S. tech company’s facility.
Damage and recovery outlook
Amazon previously warned of a prolonged recovery after strikes caused structural damage. The company reported power interruptions, and some sites required fire suppression.
Those fire responses, Amazon said, sometimes led to additional water damage. The company described recovery as likely to take significant time.
Why it matters
AWS powers many commercial websites and government services worldwide. The cloud unit is also Amazon’s primary profit engine.
Disruptions in Bahrain and nearby regions can affect large numbers of customers. Cloud workload migration aims to limit service interruptions.
Reporting by Greg Bensinger. Editing and follow-up reporting by Filmogaz.com.
