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Amazon Confirms Irrecoverable Data Loss in UAE and Bahrain Data Centers After Drone Attacks

Amazon Web Services has officially confirmed that data stored in specific availability zones within its Middle East regions was permanently destroyed following physical attacks on data centers in the UAE and Bahrain. The incidents began on March 1 and continued through April and July, damaging infrastructure tied to AI development projects. In the UAE region mec1, only zone mec1-az2 was completely destroyed with no external backups, while mec1-az3 suffered severe damage and mec1-az1 remained operational but overloaded. All three zones in the Bahrain region me-south-1 were rendered inoperable. AWS had spent six months attempting recovery before issuing the final statement on September 15, 2026, and has advised customers to migrate workloads to unaffected regions. The event highlights growing risks to data from physical-world attacks beyond traditional network threats.

HabrTranslated from Russian

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Amazon Web Services has confirmed the permanent loss of customer data following physical attacks on its data centers in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The incidents, attributed to Iranian drone strikes, began on March 1 and extended into April and July, affecting facilities involved in artificial intelligence projects.

After six months of recovery efforts, AWS issued an official statement on September 15, 2026, acknowledging that data in certain availability zones could not be restored. The company had previously released only interim technical reports without confirming total loss.

Impact on UAE Region mec1

The UAE region consists of three zones: mec1-az1, mec1-az2, and mec1-az3. According to the AWS Health Dashboard:

  • mec1-az1 sustained no physical damage and operates normally, though it faces overload issues.
  • mec1-az2 was completely destroyed with no possibility of data recovery, as it lacked backups outside the zone. All customer data stored exclusively on disks in this zone is irretrievably lost.
  • mec1-az3 suffered serious damage, but engineers continue attempts to recover infrastructure and surviving data.

The affected UAE project, linked to an OpenAI lease, had its contract suspended following the attacks.

Bahrain Region me-south-1 Status

In Bahrain, the situation proved more severe. All three zones — mes1-az1, mes1-az2, and mes1-az3 — that form the me-south-1 region were completely taken offline with no recovery options reported.

AWS has recommended that customers relocate workloads to other unaffected regions to mitigate further risks.

OpenAIAmazon Web Servicesmec1-az2me-south-1
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