Commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan General David Petraeus said Saturday his country supports Yemen in its fight against terrorism, Yemeni Saba news agency reported.

During a meeting with Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanna, the top U.S. general said his country is keen to strengthen its relations and cooperation with Yemen in various domains including the fight against terrorism and piracy, security and development to serve the common interests of the two countries.

The U.S. official also conveyed a message from U.S. President Barack Obama to Saleh which dealt with bilateral relations and cooperation, the report said.

Petraeus congratulated the Yemeni president on the successful crackdown on al-Qaida by Yemeni army in the southern provinces and capital Sanaa.

On his part, the Yemeni president said the two countries have been increasing cooperation on combating terrorism and coast guarding as well as development.

"The republic which has been suffering from terrorism for long will continue its efforts on combating terrorism in cooperation with the international society," Saleh said.

The U.S. military assistance to Yemen would be almost doubled this year according to a report published by the Washington Post. In the meantime, Britain said it will host an international meeting later in January to prevent the poorest Arab nation from becoming a stronghold for al-Qaida.

Yemeni southern provinces, especially the mountainous areas of Shabwa, al-Baidha and Aden, have been recently witnessing an increasing existence and growing strength of al-Qaida militants that prompted the army to start a crackdown on them in mid- December.

In the two-week operations, the Yemeni army said it killed around 64 militants and arrested many others.