French embassy in Yemen raises protection level

The French embassy in Sanaa decided to raise security protection level for its building and for all the French interests in Yemen because of security fears.

News reports in Yemen quoted a French diplomat as saying that his country received information on the existence of threats to the French interests in the region and in Yemen, in particular.

It also added that the coming information is also behind the closure of the French Cultural center and the French school in Sanaa. The diplomat refrained from making any information on the nature of these threats and the sides behind it.

These threats come at a time in which the Yemeni authorities accuse members of al-Qaida organizations led by Osama Bin Laden of being behind such attacks which target the Western interests in the country.

Yemen from which Bin Laden's family descends is viewed by the west as a country sheltering " terrorists." An image which Sanaa is trying to shed.