What happened
Amazon's cloud division, AWS, said on Sunday that power to a data center in the United Arab Emirates was temporarily switched off after objects hit the facility, generating sparks and a subsequent fire.
Company statement
AWS provided a statement on the incident, saying: "At around 4:30 AM PST, one of our AvailabilityZones (mec1-az2) was impacted by objects that struck the datacenter, creating sparks and fire."
Definition of affected infrastructure
According to information published on the company's website, an "Availability Zone" consists of one or more connected physical data centers. These zones are separate, isolated locations within each AWS Region.
Emergency response and operational impact
The fire department cut power to the facility while crews worked to extinguish the fire, AWS said. The data center operator added that it will take several hours to restore connectivity in the affected zone. AWS also said that other zones in the UAE were operating normally.
Context noted by company and reporting
The announcement came as the UAE is coping with retaliatory missile and drone strikes launched by Iran, which followed earlier attacks by the U.S. and Israel on Iran. Those Iranian strikes hit airports, ports, and residential areas across the country and the wider Gulf.
Operational note
AWS did not confirm or deny whether the incident at the data center was connected to the wider regional strikes when specifically asked about a potential link.
Bottom line
AWS reported a localized fire at one UAE Availability Zone after objects struck the facility, prompting a temporary power shutdown while emergency crews extinguished the blaze. Connectivity restoration in the affected zone is expected to take several hours, and other zones in the country remain operational.