Amazon AWS Data Center UAE: Amazon AWS UAE data center reports fire after ‘objects hit’, power connection stopped as Dubai, Abu Dhabi pounded by Iran strikes

Amazon’s cloud unit, AWS, said on ​Sunday that power ​to its data center in the ​United Arab Emirates was shut down temporarily after objects struck the facility, triggering sparks and a fire. The UAE ‌is reeling ⁠from ⁠Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone strikes following U.S. and ​Israeli attacks on Iran. The Iranian strikes hit airports, ports, ​and residential areas across the country and the wider Gulf.

When Reuters asked AWS whether ​the incident at the data center ⁠was connected ‌to the strikes, the ​company did ​not confirm or deny.

AWS said: “At ⁠around 4:30 AM PST, one of our ​Availability Zones (mec1-az2) was impacted by objects ​that struck the data center, creating sparks and fire.”

According to the company’s website, an “Availability Zone” is made up of one or more connected physical data centers. These zones ‌are separate, isolated locations within each AWS Region.

Fire department cut ​power to ​the facility ⁠while crews worked to extinguish the fire, AWS said. It will take several hours to restore connectivity ​in the affected zone, the data center operator said, adding that other zones in the UAE are operating normally.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has sold itself to foreigners for years as a sunny, safe, tax-free oasis. That peaceful image was shattered on Saturday as Iranian weaponry rained down on Dubai, setting fire to a five-star resort, threatening the world’s tallest building, and killing one person and injuring seven others at the airport in the capital city of Abu Dhabi.
Iran has hit the UAE and several of its neighbours as it strikes back from the major attack by US and Israeli forces, causing fear and chaos in a place that until Saturday was predictably calm.“This is Dubai’s ultimate nightmare, as its very essence depended on being a safe oasis in a troubled region,” Cinzia Bianco, an expert on the Persian Gulf at the European Council on Foreign Relations wrote on X. “There might be a way to be resilient, but there is no going back.”

Officials tried to reassure residents and visitors that the country’s air defence system was among the best in the world, blasting down drones and missiles.

“I know it’s a scary time for a lot of the residents,” Reem Al Hashimy, minister of state for international cooperation, told CNN. “We don’t hear these types of loud sounds. But at the same time, those are sounds of interception. And where there has been damage — that has been primarily debris.”

Fallout from the attacks has undermined the Emirates’ efforts to de-escalate tensions with Iran despite longtime suspicions of its neighbour across the Gulf. The UAE closed its embassy in Tehran on Sunday.

The oil-rich federation of seven sheikhdoms has relied on its image as a place of serenity to lure wealthy tourists, businesspeople and future residents who want to live largely tax-free in luxury in the desert by the sea. Nearly 90 per cent of the estimated 11 million residents are foreigners.

Real estate firms sell glimmering high-rises and poolside villas to rich Europeans and Americans by promoting a welcoming climate and business-friendly policies, and touting it as one of the safest places on earth.

Hundreds of drone and missile attacks later, though, that reputation has been rocked.