AWS Confirms Inability to Recover Some Data from War-Damaged Gulf Facilities

Amazon.com Inc. confirmed Tuesday that it is unable to restore access to some customer data stored in its cloud facilities in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers were damaged earlier this year during the US-Iran war, according to an update posted to the company's service health status page.

Extent of the Damage

In its first public update on the matter in five months, AWS stated that it cannot access data hosted exclusively in its data centers in Bahrain and in one of its three UAE "availability zones." The company said the physical damage to the facilities, which occurred between March and April, "exceeded what the company's services were designed to withstand."

According to the report, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously claimed its forces struck the Bahrain facilities due to Amazon's alleged support for U.S. military operations. Satellite imagery reportedly confirmed hits on two Amazon data centers in the country.

Customer Impact and Recovery

AWS noted that most of its customers had already mitigated the impact by moving their workloads to server farms in other regions. The company stated that many clients acted between the initial strikes in March and subsequent damage in April that ultimately disabled the network in Bahrain.

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In the UAE, most customers were able to restore their operations by relying on backups or by copying data that remained accessible in the two operational availability zones. AWS engineers are reportedly still working to recover resources in those two zones.

Company Outlook

Amazon said it remains committed to supporting its customers in both countries and promised a further update on the situation in Bahrain early next year. The permanent loss of access to customer data, even in a limited capacity, underscores the significant geopolitical risks facing global technology infrastructure.

AWS operates a global network of data center clusters, including in nearby India and Israel, as well as multiple locations across Europe, which serve as alternative regions for customers.