edward snowden since he fled the u.s. >> it is back to business this morning for many of the two dozen u.s. embassies and consulates shuttered by tear -- terror alert last week. mostly across the middle east. but the doors to the embassy remain locked in yemen where the threat originated. more from abc's mohamed lila in cairo. >> reporter: several embassies that were closed a week ago have reopened and the massive sprawling american embassy in cairo which sits heavily fortified in the heart of the city. within the next few days 18 of 19 embassies and consulates will be fully operational. the one holdout, of course, is in yemen where the threat alert remains high. just in the last two weeks alone there have been nine u.s. drone strikes there killing a suspected 38 militants. proof the american government is taking this threat very seriously. these reopenings come on the heels of president obama announcing that while al qaeda's core remains defeated its affiliate networks and groups are effective enough to threaten the united states. mohamed lila, abc news, cairo.