HOUTHI MISSILES AND DRONES SLAM SAUDI AIRPORTS — THREE DEAD! | Riyadh and Abha take hits, 36 are wounded, a Yemenia jet is diverted after a missile lands near Aden’s runway — and the US embassy is telling Americans to keep their heads on a swivel

Check your boarding pass — and the sky. Houthi attacks on two Saudi airports killed three civilians and injured 36 on Tuesday and Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said, per Al Jazeera.

The toll: at Abha International Airport in the south, two female residents — one Moroccan, one Algerian — were killed and 28 people were hurt. At King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, a Sudanese citizen was killed and eight were injured, including five Saudi citizens, The National reports. The aviation authority said injuries ranged from minor to serious and the strikes caused “some material damage.”

The Iran-backed rebels claimed both hits: drones at Riyadh, ballistic missiles and drones at Abha and the Khamis Mushait airbase. Flightradar24 said flights at King Khalid were halted for more than an hour Wednesday morning after a hold of a few hours on Tuesday, and the airport’s website was down for a second straight day. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted missiles and drones around Khamis Mushait and Jazan and kept hitting launch sites.

Yemen got it too. Aden’s Transport Ministry said two ballistic missiles and several explosive-laden drones were fired at the city’s international airport around daybreak; one missile landed near the runway minutes before Yemenia Airways flight 603 from Cairo was due in, and the flight was diverted to Jeddah. No casualties were reported. Houthi spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed strikes on Saudi military camps “killed and wounded dozens” — claims that could not be independently verified.

The backdrop: Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces are locked in escalating combat with Houthi fighters who seized a broad swath of territory astride the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait, Al Jazeera reports. Yemen’s legal affairs minister said Houthi shelling in Taiz province killed six civilians and wounded 18, most of the casualties women and children.

And Washington’s message to its people in the kingdom? The US embassy in Riyadh issued another security alert urging “heightened vigilance” and warned of possible flight cancellations. Translation: the Red Sea war just moved into the departure lounge.

Sources: Al Jazeera · The National