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Amazon Web Services (AWS) confirmed that one of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates experienced a temporary power shutdown after objects struck the facility, causing sparks and a fire. The incident occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m. PST and affected the Availability Zone identified as mec1-az2 within the AWS Middle East (UAE) Region.
According to AWS, the impact triggered sparks that led to a fire inside the data center. Local fire department crews responded quickly and cut power to the affected facility to safely extinguish the flames. As a result, connectivity and services within the impacted Availability Zone were disrupted. AWS stated that restoration efforts are underway, but it may take several hours to fully reinstate connectivity in the affected zone.
The incident comes as the UAE faces heightened regional tensions following Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes. These strikes were launched in response to recent U.S. and Israeli military actions targeting Iran. Reports indicate that airports, ports, and residential areas across the UAE and the broader Gulf region were impacted. When asked whether the data center incident was directly linked to the ongoing missile and drone attacks, AWS did not confirm or deny any connection.
An AWS Availability Zone consists of one or more physically separate but interconnected data centers within a specific AWS Region. These zones are designed to operate independently to enhance redundancy, fault tolerance, and high availability for cloud computing services. AWS emphasized that other Availability Zones within the UAE Region remain fully operational and continue to support customers without interruption.
The temporary outage highlights the importance of cloud infrastructure resilience, especially in regions experiencing geopolitical instability. Businesses relying on AWS cloud services in the Middle East are closely monitoring updates as connectivity is gradually restored.
