Satellite Images Show Amazon AWS Bahrain Data Centers Damaged by Iranian Cruise Missile Attack
European Space Agency Sentinel-2 satellite images reveal damage to two Amazon Web Services data centers in Bahrain following a cruise missile attack claimed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on July 21. This marks Iran's fifth such strike since March 2026. AWS had earlier confirmed structural damage, power outages, and fire at its facilities. Since April, both Middle East regions—ME-South-1 and me-central-1 in the UAE—have been in a hard down state. Amazon has not responded to the latest attack. This is the first verified case of cloud infrastructure directly hit in a state-level military conflict.
The latest images from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-2 satellite show clear signs of damage to two Amazon Web Services data center buildings in Salak and Askar, Bahrain. This independent satellite observation matches footage and related statements previously released by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, confirming its cruise missile attack on the Amazon AWS Middle East ME-South-1 region on July 21.
Since March 2026, Iran has claimed to have struck Amazon's Bahrain facilities for the fifth time. In early March, AWS officially confirmed structural damage, power outages, and fire at its facilities in the region. By early April, AWS had placed both Middle East regions—including the me-central-1 region in the United Arab Emirates—into a severe hard down state, unable to stably support customer applications. Amazon has not yet issued an official response to the latest round of strikes on July 21 or the satellite image results.
Sentinel-2 is a low-resolution satellite constellation that cannot perform detailed battle damage assessments or directly quantify specific computing power losses or the number of affected customers. However, verification from this independent data source carries significant practical importance. This is the first globally confirmed case of a major cloud computing provider's physical infrastructure being directly struck in a state-level military conflict. Previously, enterprises often used a single Middle East region for disaster recovery redundancy, but this incident has fundamentally broken that traditional risk model.
Why this event matters
The event has a measured impact on 1 industry. The strongest current signal is negative for Cloud Services & Data Centres, with intensity 82/100 and 92% confidence over a medium term horizon.
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