Was Recent Amazon Outage Caused By Middle East Drone Attacks? What Really Took Down Amazon.com

Amazon's website and app suffered a widespread outage on 5 March 2026, leaving thousands unable to shop amid speculation that Middle East drone attacks were responsible. But Amazon has pinned the blame on a faulty software code deployment, quashing talk of a connection to earlier strikes on its cloud facilities.

The Amazon outage drone attacks rumour spread quickly online, yet the disruption affected mainly US users and resolved within hours, with reports peaking at over 20,000.

The Outage Details

The problems kicked off around 14:00 ET, as shoppers reported failed checkouts, erratic pricing on product pages, and trouble accessing accounts. Outage tracker Downdetector logged a rapid rise in complaints, hitting a high of 22,000 by late afternoon. Many users saw error messages during payment attempts, while others noted prices changing inexplicably at the final step. Amazon responded promptly, confirming teams were addressing the issue.

By 20:00 ET, the site was back to normal for most, with incident reports falling sharply to under 650. This marked the company's second major hiccup in recent months, following an AWS cloud outage in October 2025 that rippled across numerous services.

An Amazon spokesperson explained, 'We're sorry that some customers may have temporarily experienced issues while shopping. We have resolved the issue, which was related to a software code deployment, and the website and app are now running smoothly.' The event disrupted routine shopping but caused no broader knock-on effects.

Drone Strikes on AWS Facilities

Earlier in the week, on 1 March, Iranian drone strikes damaged three AWS data centres in the UAE and Bahrain, triggering regional cloud outages. AWS reported two facilities in the UAE took direct hits, leading to structural damage, power disruptions, and water issues from fire suppression efforts. A nearby strike impacted the Bahrain site similarly.

The attacks formed part of Iran's response to US and Israeli actions that killed its supreme leader days prior. AWS urged customers to shift operations to other regions, warning of prolonged recovery. Services like banking apps and delivery platforms in the UAE faced downtime, affecting daily operations there.

'In the UAE, two of our facilities were directly struck, while in Bahrain, a drone strike in close proximity to one of our facilities caused physical impacts to our infrastructure,' AWS stated. The incident exposed how geopolitical tensions can hit tech infrastructure directly.

Debunking the Rumours

Speculation tying the retail outage to the drone strikes surfaced due to the close timing, but Amazon and analysts have ruled out any direct tie. The AWS damage was limited to Middle East zones, far removed from the US-centric systems powering Amazon.com. While some online posts suggested a wider cyber or physical link, no proof has emerged.

For instance, verified X user Navroop Singh shared, 'Iran's retaliatory missile and drone strikes on the UAE hit Amazon's main Middle East AWS data center.'

Hardly a surprise that rumours swirled, given the dramatic news cycle.

As of 6 March 2026, all Amazon services are stable, with no further disruptions reported. The separate events underline varied risks to digital operations, from internal code slips to external conflicts potentially sparking Amazon outage drone-attack concerns anew.