Global Situational Awareness has released a briefing detailing the threats posed to data centres around the world, covering everything from protest and potential vandalism by direct action campaign groups such as Pull The Plug’s AI-focused demonstration, dubbed the “March Against the Machines,”. It also gives a comprehensive threat summary overview, and offers forecasts as to what the next threats might be. Here, we are focusing on one of the focus issues, within this area – Middle East conflict and data centres.
On 11 March 2026, Iranian state-affiliated media, including Tasnim News Agency, reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had designated multiple US technology and cloud infrastructure facilities across Bahrain, Israel, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates as “legitimate targets” for retaliatory strikes. The announcement follows the 01 March 2026 drone attacks on Amazon Web Services (AWS) facilities in the UAE and Bahrain, which caused structural damage and disrupted regional cloud services. The IRGC framed these sites as “enemy technology infrastructure,” highlighting the strategic importance of cloud and AI facilities to US and Israeli military and intelligence operations.
The targeted facilities include offices, cloud data centres, research laboratories, and AI development hubs belonging to Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, Google, Nvidia, Oracle, and Palantir Technologies. Specific locations cited include Amazon offices and AWS infrastructure in Israel, Bahrain, and the UAE; Microsoft campuses in Israel and Dubai; Google regional offices in Dubai, Doha, and Tel Aviv; Nvidia R&D and operations centres in Haifa, Tel Aviv, and Dubai; Oracle regional hubs in Jerusalem, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai; IBM AI and cybersecurity centres across the Gulf and Israel; and Palantir offices supporting government and defence clients. The targeting explicitly identifies companies perceived as supporting US–Israeli operations, reflecting a shift toward infrastructure-based conflict.
The initial AWS strikes on 01 March 2026 caused extensive disruption, triggering automated fire suppression systems, water damage to servers, and network outages. Regional banking, telecommunications, logistics, and digital services were significantly affected, impacting roughly 11 million users and temporarily halting operations of major banks, including Emirates NBD, FAB, and ADCB. The attacks demonstrate the operational consequences of infrastructure targeting, where even limited physical disruption to cloud facilities can produce cascading effects on critical services.
While data centres outside the Middle East are not physically threatened, the designation of these companies as targets elevates their cyber risk. Threat actors may exploit the situation to conduct cyberattacks, espionage, or ransomware operations, and regional operational disruptions could propagate globally due to reliance on interconnected cloud services. The announcement also serves as a psychological and deterrence measure, pressuring Western technology firms and signalling the strategic relevance of digital infrastructure in modern conflicts.
The escalation exemplifies the growing role of cloud and AI infrastructure as a battlefield, where non-traditional targets can have strategic impact comparable to conventional military strikes. Companies with regional operations are likely to increase security measures, review contingency plans, and shift workloads to alternative regions. Compnaies should monitor both physical and cyber risks, as well as potential indirect effects on global cloud services. Although direct strikes outside the Middle East remain unlikely, the overall cyber and operational threat profile for affected companies, including Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook/Meta, has been materially elevated in this report.
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