Iranian drone strikes AWS data centres in the UAE, disrupting banking apps and transport
Drone strikes hit Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centres in the United Arab Emirates, triggering widespread disruption to a range of digital applications and services across the region.
AWS confirmed two of its data centres in the UAE and one facility in Bahrain were damaged in the attack on Sunday, rendering those facilities inoperable.
“In the UAE, two of our facilities were hit directly, while in Bahrain the drone strike near one of our facilities caused physical damage to our infrastructure,” AWS said on Monday (2 March 2026) night local time, as cited by CNBC on Wednesday (4 March 2026).
The company added that the attack caused structural damage and disruptions to power supply. “These attacks have caused structural damage, disrupted power to our infrastructure, and in some cases required fire suppression efforts that subsequently caused further damage due to water,” AWS wrote.
The AWS infrastructure disruption directly affected a range of consumer and financial services in the UAE. The Careem ride-hailing and delivery platform, the Alaan and Hubpay payment companies, and the Sarwa investment app reported service disruptions.
Major banks such as ADCB and Emirates NBD were also affected. “As a result of regional IT outages recently, the ADCB Mobile Banking App and Contact Centre services are temporarily unavailable,” ADCB wrote on social media on Monday.
Snowflake also reported system disruptions. “Connectivity issues and high error rates in the region are expected to persist until power supply disruptions are resolved,” the company said in its latest incident report.
AWS said through its health dashboard that disruptions remain in effect. “We are making progress in recovery across multiple lines of work,” AWS wrote on Tuesday morning local time. “We strongly encourage customers with workloads running in the Middle East to move those workloads promptly to another AWS Region,” it added.
The attack comes amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, after the US and Israel launched a joint strike against Iran over the weekend. Besides military bases, several critical infrastructures such as data centres and oil and gas facilities were reported to have been targeted.
Meanwhile, tensions in the region have unsettled global markets. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz triggered volatility in energy markets. US stocks opened sharply lower on Tuesday morning, while European and Asian markets also declined. Oil prices continued to rise as the risk of disruptions to global energy supply increased.