Rally Moves After Riyadh Attacks

The 2027 Dakar Rally will no longer take place in Saudi Arabia, organizers confirmed on Sunday. The Amaury Sport Organisation and the Saudi Motorsport Company cited recent regional developments for the decision to move the January event. They stated the race will be staged in a different territory, with the specific location to be revealed in the coming days.

The shift follows a series of attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh this month. Those strikes killed 18 people and injured hundreds more. Organizers had planned a new route in the northern part of the country to keep the 2027 race in the kingdom. The latest violence made that plan impossible. The two governing bodies also confirmed a planned return to Saudi Arabia for the 2028 edition, which will mark the rally's 50th running.

Specialist race media report that Morocco and Spain are under consideration as replacements. A move to Morocco would bring the event back to Africa for the first time since 2007. The rally originally began as a race from Paris to Dakar, the capital of Senegal. It was cancelled in 2008 due to security concerns in North Africa before moving to South America and then to Saudi Arabia, which has hosted the event since 2020.

The Dakar is the latest major sporting event to leave Saudi Arabia this year due to the US-Israel war on Iran and deadly Houthi attacks on the kingdom. The Formula One Grand Prix in Jeddah was cancelled, and the Bahrain race was called off before being rescheduled in Malaysia. The final round of the World Rally Championship in Saudi Arabia, scheduled for next month, has also been scrapped.

An exhibition tennis event featuring Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Alexander Zverev has been postponed until late December. The WTA Finals, originally planned for Riyadh, will now be played at Indian Wells, California. The final two Formula One races of the season in Qatar and Abu Dhabi remain on the calendar, as does next month's Qatar MotoGP. These events are reportedly the subject of intense internal debate.

In Yemen, fighting between government forces and Houthi fighters has intensified on several fronts in recent weeks. The conflict deepened last month when the Houthis seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast from forces loyal to the internationally recognized government. Saudi Arabia leads a coalition backing the Yemeni government, and the Houthi attacks have disrupted businesses, airlines, and daily life while damaging the kingdom's international image.