Amazon Web Services has confirmed that it cannot restore access to parts of its cloud infrastructure in Bahrain and one data-hosting zone in the United Arab Emirates following damage linked to the regional conflict involving Iran earlier this year.
The update marks one of the most significant disclosures about the long-term impact of the conflict on critical digital infrastructure in the Gulf. AWS said damage suffered by facilities in Bahrain exceeded the recovery capabilities built into its regional systems, leaving some customer data and resources permanently inaccessible.
According to a status update issued by the company, the damage in Bahrain affected multiple availability zones. Availability zones are clusters of one or more data centers located within the same geographic region and are designed to provide redundancy and continuity during outages.
AWS stated that the scale of the damage went beyond what its regional and multi-zone architecture was designed to withstand.
The company said it had explored all available recovery options but was ultimately unable to restore data and resources that had not been migrated before the Bahrain region became unavailable.
AWS is now assisting affected customers in rebuilding operations through alternative cloud regions and backup systems where available.
The disruption traces back to March, when military escalation involving Iran, the United States and Israel spread across the Gulf region. During that period, missile and drone attacks affected several countries hosting American military facilities.
AWS previously disclosed that two of its facilities in the UAE were directly struck during the conflict. The company also reported that a drone strike near one of its Bahrain facilities caused physical damage to infrastructure supporting cloud services.
The outages affected a range of operations, including some banking services that relied on AWS infrastructure in the region.
In Bahrain, AWS said the situation worsened after a second availability zone experienced disruptions in April. Following the initial damage in March, the company began advising customers to move workloads to other cloud regions as a precaution.
Most customers followed that guidance before the wider Bahrain region became unavailable. Those early migrations helped reduce the overall impact and allowed many organizations to continue operating with limited interruptions.
AWS said it has since worked closely with affected customers to restore services in alternative locations, using backup copies of data where available and implementing other technical solutions when necessary.
The company acknowledged, however, that some resources could not be recovered because they remained stored exclusively in the damaged infrastructure.
In the UAE, AWS reported a different situation. The company said it remains unable to restore access to data and resources that were hosted solely within one availability zone known as mec1-az2.
Recovery efforts continue across the broader UAE region. AWS said it is working to restore services in the affected area and replace damaged infrastructure while supporting customers operating in the country’s remaining availability zones.
The company noted that two other affected zones in the UAE continue to undergo recovery and rebuilding efforts.
The incident has intensified concerns about the resilience of cloud computing infrastructure across the Gulf, a region that has become a major hub for digital services, artificial intelligence projects and data center investments.
Governments and technology firms have invested billions of dollars in recent years to expand cloud capacity throughout the Middle East. The region has also become increasingly important for AI development, data storage and international digital connectivity.
The conflict-related damage has prompted renewed discussions about infrastructure protection and disaster recovery planning.
Recent reports indicate that the UAE is already reviewing plans for major AI and data center projects in response to the attacks. Proposed measures reportedly include distributing facilities across multiple locations, expanding underground infrastructure and incorporating blast-resistant designs into future projects.
Industry experts have noted that traditional cloud redundancy models are typically designed to withstand localized failures rather than simultaneous damage across multiple facilities within the same region.
AWS emphasized that it remains committed to supporting customers in both Bahrain and the UAE as recovery efforts continue.
The company said it has informed relevant government authorities in both countries and continues to coordinate with officials regarding restoration plans and future infrastructure improvements.
AWS expects to provide a new update regarding UAE recovery efforts in the coming months. For Bahrain, where the damage is more severe, the company said another update is expected in early 2027.
The announcement highlights the growing importance of digital infrastructure security as cloud computing services become increasingly critical to banking, government operations, communications and artificial intelligence development across the Middle East.
