DUBAI: Drone strikes on data centers in the Middle East have highlighted the growing vulnerability of digital infrastructure as regional conflict intensifies, with major cloud facilities damaged and services disrupted.
Amazon confirmed that several of its data centers in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were hit or affected by drone attacks linked to the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, causing outages across its cloud computing network. Two facilities in the UAE were directly struck, while a third in Bahrain sustained damage from a nearby blast, the company said.
The strikes disrupted critical services used by businesses, governments and financial institutions across the region, raising concerns about the resilience of global data systems during wartime. Amazon warned that recovery could be prolonged due to physical damage and power disruptions.
The incidents mark a significant escalation in the targeting of civilian digital infrastructure, as data centers — once considered remote from frontline conflict — become increasingly central to economic and national security. Analysts say the attacks demonstrate how modern warfare is expanding into the digital backbone of societies.
“Cloud infrastructure is now part of critical national infrastructure,” one analysis noted, underscoring that such facilities are “vulnerable to conflict.”
The broader conflict has seen a wave of drone and missile strikes across the Gulf, with multiple countries reporting attacks on military and civilian sites.
Industry experts warn that further escalation could disrupt global supply chains and financial systems that rely on cloud computing, as companies increasingly depend on centralized data hubs in strategically sensitive regions.