Heavy fighting in the capital of an american ally against al qaeda. The president ial palace in the line of fire. The Prime Minister surrounded by gunmen. U. S. Troops ready to evacuate the American Embassy on a moments notice. Its all happening in yemen, where a power struggle between the government and rebels works to the advantage of al qaedas most dangerous affiliate tied to this months paris massacre. There is supposed to be a ceasefire now but its very very dangerous. The situation, extremely worrisome. Our correspondents analysts and newsmakers are all standing by. We also have the only western tv reporter on the ground in yemen for us nick patonwalsh. Lets begin with our pentagon correspondent, barbara starr, whos got the very latest. Reporter this evening, Government Forces in yemen are said to be in control of the president ial palace but the surrounding hillsides are in control of the rebels. Everyone is looking for a ceasefire agreement to be signed in the morning, but no one is expecting peace. Gunfire, rebel fighters, checkpoints. Smoke rising near the president ial palace. Yemen facing chaos. Many say this is the beginning of an attempted coup by Houthi Rebels even as there were claims of a ceasefire. I do not think that the ceasefire will hold. Thats what my gut tells me based off of what we have been watching over the last year going on in sanaa and throughout yemen. Reporter shiite Houthi Rebels backed by iran have been challenging Yemeni Authority for months. Yemens information minister tells Cnns Christiane Amanpour the yemeni Prime Minister is surrounded by militias stationed on rooftops around his home. What is the state of control of the government . Almost nonexistent. Are you telling me the government is not in control . Yes. Shocking huh . Reporter for u. S. Embassy workers, if there is an order to evacuate they could leave by state department chartered aircraft. But only if it is safe enough to drive to the airport. If the airport closes, there is another route. Cnn has learned the u. S. Military has just increased its alert level. Marines and special forces on board the uss iwo jima offshore are ready to go immediately according to a u. S. Official in the region. Helicopters could land on the Embassy Grounds and quickly airlift out everyone including nearly 100 marines already there guarding the embassy. But an even deeper National Security worry, as yemen unravels al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, aqap headquartered in yemen, and laying claim to the paris Charlie Hebdo attacks, has a dangerous advantage. When there is turmoil, its great for aqap because everyone is focusing on internally on the country and aqap kind of sits in the shadows and continues to have some safe haven, continue to train. Reporter so against the backdrop of all of this what to do now about al qaeda in yemen. Officials say there is very little they can do but watch and wait. What about more drone strikes . Well first they are going to have to find where those Al Qaeda Leaders are hiding out. Wolf . Barbara, they have to send those helicopters or those ospreys to evacuate americans from the embassy, those kind of aircraft they are very vulnerable to shoulderfired surfacetoair missiles right . Reporter they would be if those kinds of weapons are in the city and i would think it would be a safe bet that at least some of them are. The thinking is and i have to you know really qualify and caveat this the thinking is that the houthis, the rebel forces are not out to attack americans. I think that however, it is very realistic to consider if they have to go it will be a very Dangerous Mission for those marines. Wolf . Barbara, thanks very much. Barbara starr at the pentagon. With fighting in the streets, the Prime Minister surrounded u. S. Troops ready to evacuate the American Embassy if needed. Lets go live to yemen right now. Our Senior International correspondent nick patonwalsh is the only western Tv Correspondent on the ground in yemen. He is risking his own life right now. Nick set the scene for us. Whats the latest youre seeing on the streets of the capital . I know at times it can be misleading. Reporter its 1 00 in the morning here so you would normally expect it to be terrifyingly quiet but its a very eerie calm here. Intermittently we hear gunfire but the clock is ticking on the political process thats happening behind closed doors, and kind of the gun being held to the governments head is that the houthi militia are said to be around the residence of the Prime Minister and around the president ial administration of the building you see behind me. Now, of course the fear is that we understand from the minister of information that the houthis want some sort of change to the constitution in order to release the chief of staff they say in their words they detained in order to make sure the constitution wasnt put in its current form. We are really going to have to have a pretty miraculous common vision from the three or four different sides involved in this process to stop the potential for violence on the streets again tomorrow morning. We see militias on the ground here not entirely always under the control of their commanders. There were supposed to be two or three ceasefires. Even the ceasefire negotiations themselves came under fire. Its a very perilous situation here and each time we see this country spiral more out of control, that simply makes life easier for al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. I know that they kidnapped these rebels the chief of staff to the yemeni president. You had a chance i think to go over to the u. S. Embassy. There rr whatare what 100 marines, diplomats, civilians working with ngos, nongovernmental organizations. What are they saying to you . Reporter i have to be honest they were comparatively calm. At times, obviously, they can hear the same things we can hear the shelling in the distance and that raising a sense of alarm. But bear in mind a lot of the western embassies here are pretty well fortified and in a pretty wellprotected area. The american one in particular that has a lot of defenses in place there over a particularly sprawling compound. Its going to take a lot for them to want to pull out of there. The cautions youre talking about are really a result of benghazi. In case the situation spirals wildly out of control, one of the houthis slogans is death to america. They dont seem to want that fight right now but the real issue is al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. All this chaos here everyone reminds us that kind of mess on the streets just gives them a better opportunity to attack at will wherever they wish. Thats another threat potentially in the days ahead. We will check back with you. Be careful over there. Meanwhile, mass killings shootouts, police raids, mass arrests over the span of just a few days. Europe has been rocked by terror and with troops now in the streets of major european cities there are growing concerns the threat is far larger than imagined. Theres a steppedup hunt for terror suspects Foreign Ministers are gathering in brussels today urgently trying to stay ahead of that threat. Its very grave. Cnns phil black is joining us from brussels with more. Whats the latest there, phil . Reporter wolf this was the first meeting of european foreign minister since the attacks in brussels and since police disrupted another terror plot here in belgium and in a statement that followed there was a surprise admission. Only now, it said for the first time was there a real awareness by European Countries of the need to Work Together to fight the Common Threat of terrorism. Heavily Armed Security on the streets of brussels and antwerp. A sight that country hasnt seen in 35 years. Officials say five belgian nationals have been charged with participation in a terrorist organization following last weeks raids. But the hunt for the presumed mastermind behind the suspected terror cell continues, according to belgiums justice minister. Authorities say the group which included individuals returning from syria, planned to target Police Officers. Orders for the failed terror plot may have come from isis according to belgian newspaper reports. France also remains on high alert while the search continues for the person whose dna was found on the kosher market assailants gun. Sources tell cnn another person whose dna was found in Amedy Coulibalys car is one of nine suspects already in custody. Coulibaly had proclaimed allegiance to isis. Theres growing concern terror groups are directing european recruits to return home and launch attacks. European officials are meeting in brussels on monday to tackle the spread of terrorism and potential threats. The threat is not only the one we faced in paris but also spreading in many other parts of the world starting from muslim countries. We need to strengthen our way of cooperating together. First of all, with other countries and then internally. Reporter the spate of violence began when cherif and said kouachi attacked the Charlie Hebdo office. An Ongoing Investigation into the gunmen reveals intelligence failures by french officials. Authorities thought cherif gave up terror activities when he started selling counterfeit goods. So they stopped monitoring him. But a source tells cnn cherif used that money to buy weapons. Another misstep. A delay in passing along an alert about one of the brothers phones. By the time it reached the countrys main domestic spy agency a source tells cnn the brothers were no longer under surveillance. Investigators now believe cherif and his brother traveled to yemen in 2011 via oman. Even though cherifs passport was confiscated a year earlier. Its believed the brothers received funding for the terror attacks from al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula which has claimed responsibility for the Charlie Hebdo attack. One of the suspects in the belgium terror plot who was and survived a shootout with police today denied through his lawyer any involvement in the planned attack against Police Officers here. He says that he was only delivering a pair of shoes on behalf of his mother to another one of the suspects who was killed during the police raid. So far, five people have been charged here. One man in greece two more in france. But the authorities here do not believe they have found everyone connected to this attack. I suspect those numbers will go up in the coming days. Phil black, thanks very much. Lets get the latest on the investigation. Our justice correspondent, pamela brown, is joining us from paris. What are you hearing from your sources specifically about the role of isis in these various terror plots in belgium particularly . Reporter well it appears that with the belgian terror cell that it appears isis actually had a very heavy hand in this plot this imminent plot to attack Police Officers there. This is according to a senior belgian counterterrorism official we have been speaking with. The belief among officials there is that isis was directing this plot through a point person who was in greece and that some of the suspects now in Police Custody and the two that were killed in verviers had actually fought alongside isis in syria so you see there is a tie there and there is a belief speaking to sources that other jihadis returning from syria who fought alongside isis are spread out throughout europe and that is who authorities of course are trying to track down right now. There is really a manhunt under way as we speak. What are you hearing about the concern, i assume its significant, about the unraveling situation in yemen. You heard nick patonwalsh there, given that the paris killers, the kouachi brothers had trained there, al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, in yemen. Reporter yemen has been a tremendous concern among u. S. Authorities for years. Its been you know theres been a pipeline over there for years where people have gone and trained alongside aqap and yemen, including the kouachi brothers as you point out. So the situation continues to unravel and escalate and yemen, the concern is heightened among sources i have been speaking with. Of course the concern here is that aqap will gain even more control, have more free rein in yemen and continue to use it as sort of a breeding ground for other terrorists. Sources i have been speaking with say they are just as concerned about yemen as they are about the situation in syria with isis. Pamela brown in paris for us thank you. Lets go in depth now with cnn intelligence and security analyst bob baer a former cia operative. Also joining us cnn terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank and our military analyst retired Lieutenant General mark hurtling. We heard phil blacks reporting, authorities there stopped monitoring Cherif Kouachi after he began supposedly selling counterfeit goods because they believed he had given up terror activities. Is that common for authorities to stop surveillance on individuals that they think have moved on and are not going to necessarily get involved in terrorism . Absolutely wolf. The way you have to a lot of people flirt with Islamic Jihad, show up in syria or in yemen, dont like it come home lead normal lives. It happens with hamas and the Islamic Jihad in israel. You know so to keep them on a list they have to appear active. What these guys im sure didnt do is call back to yemen or call back to known members of isis or al qaeda so they stayed off the lines. They apparently used their wives phones to communicate with each other. It looks like they went out of country for personal meetings maybe athens or madrid. Thats yet to be determined. So these guys would have gotten instructions in yemen, go home be quiet stay out of the mosques, shave your beard, dont espouse islamic doctrine or the rest of it and it worked apparently. The french have so many people to watch, 5,000 on that list as we understand that they probably moved down the list unfortunately. If you are going to do significant surveillance you need at least ten, maybe 15 people per person youre watching in order to maintain around the clock surveillance. General, its believed that Cherif Kouachi used the money he earned selling those counterfeit goods to buy weapons. Heres the question. Can authorities follow that money trail now to find others who may have aided the kouachi brothers in their attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices . Absolutely. In fact, thats the critical piece. A smart counterintelligence guy will not go after cell they will go after the network. So the key issue is you find the arms dealers. You find the guys giving the orders. You find the financiers. Those are the important pieces of the network that you go after. You have to attack that network while defending against the cells. Paul europe as you know remains very much on high alert right now, especially in belgium. There are armed guards on the streets. This for the first time in more than 30 years. Why is belgium so particularly vulnerable . There has been a lot of radicalization for quite some time in belgium. But the big part of the vulnerability comes from the fact so many belgian nationals, extremists in belgium, have traveled to syria to join groups like isis. Around 350 have traveled from belgium. Belgiums a pretty small country so thats a big number for a country like belgium. About 200 are thought to be there right now, mostly with isis, and about 100 are thought to have returned including the gunmen who were killed in that operation against a suspected isis related cell in verviers. One of the reasons why so many have traveled is theres a Facilitation Network in belgium. They transported a lot of people early on to syria to join with groups like isis and so they already have people there to welcome more and more people. It was like a snowball effect. More and more people could go because there were people to welcome them when they got there. So those are some of the reasons why belgium has got such a huge problem right now when it comes to returning foreign fighters. Theres a concern as well that part of this cell they took down last week remains still at large. They feel they have disrupted the major part of the plot but some of these people may still be at large with access to weapons and may try to avenge the two comrades of theirs killed in this operation last week in verviers. Bob baer western intelligence sources have told cnn there may be as many as 20 socalled sleeper terrorist cells in belgium, france germany, the netherlands, maybe other countries in europe. How likely is it that there are similar cells here in the United States . Well as i have said i think its inevitable we are going to get hit at some point as long as were engaged in the middle east which we will be for years. Someones going to take revenge against us. Now, whether they are europeans that come in without a visa or theres cells established and i have talked to Law Enforcement and they believe that theyre here the cells, but they cannot get any details on them. Theres fragmentary intelligence. There are cells in this country. This is what im told. I of course have not seen the evidence. But i trust these Law Enforcement officials. Paul youve got some more inform