AWS reports disruption in Bahrain after drone attacks, raising concerns over cloud resilience and digital infrastructure risks across MENA.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) reported service disruptions in Bahrain after the country was targeted by Iranian drones for the second time this month, highlighting growing risks to critical digital infrastructure in the region.
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The company did not confirm whether its Bahrain data centre was directly hit or if the disruption resulted from nearby strikes. The incident follows earlier attacks on 1 March, when three AWS facilities across the UAE and Bahrain were affected, leading to outages that lasted at least 48 hours.
In a statement cited by media reports, AWS advised customers with workloads in affected regions to consider migrating to alternative locations as the situation evolves.
According to the Bahrain Defence Force, the country has intercepted and destroyed 147 ballistic missiles and 282 drones since the start of the conflict, reflecting the scale of ongoing security challenges.
As part of Amazon, AWS operates more than 900 data centres globally and underpins critical digital services, including government platforms and enterprise systems across the Middle East.
The disruption comes amid rapid expansion in regional data infrastructure. The GCC currently hosts over 150 data centres, with total capacity expected to grow from around 1GW to 3.3GW over the next five years, according to PwC.
Why AWS Disruption Matters to MENA
This disruption underscores a growing vulnerability in MENA’s digital economy: the exposure of cloud infrastructure to geopolitical risk.
As governments and enterprises increasingly rely on platforms like Amazon Web Services, even short outages can impact financial systems, public services, and business operations across borders.
The incident may accelerate demand for multi-cloud strategies, regional data redundancy, and sovereign cloud investments, key priorities as MENA scales its digital and AI-driven economy.
