France and Japan have joined the United States and Britain in closing their embassies in Yemen following reported threats from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The US embassy was closed on Sunday one day after US General David Petraeus traveled to Yemen to meet President Ali Abdullah Saleh to discuss strengthening military ties. Over the weekend, President Obama linked al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to the failed Christmas Day airline bombing plot. The US and Britain have also announced plans to fund a special counterterrorism police unit in Yemen. On Sunday, when asked whether more US military action was possible in Yemen, President Obama’s Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan said that was a possibility.

John Brennan: “There are indications that al-Qaeda is planning an attack in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen. I spoke with our ambassador down there, Ambassador Seche, this morning, as well as last night. Both the US and the British embassies have been closed to give the Yemeni government an opportunity to thwart that threat and the plans that are afoot right now.”