SANA, Yemen — Yemen’s warring factions Sunday braced for a key battle in a central province, where victory could allow pro-government forces to move rapidly north into the heartland of the country’s Shi’ite rebels.
Security officials from both sides said the focus was now on Marib, an oil-rich province that supplies the rebel-held capital of Sana with electricity and fuel, after months of airstrikes that killed 2,000 civilians, according to the United Nations.
Pro-government forces have recently tightened their grip on the province’s capital, also called Marib, while the Shi’ite rebels, known as Houthis, have consolidated their positions on its outskirts, laying mines in nearby Jawf, security officials from both sides.
If progovernment forces manage to push the rebels out of Marib, they could potentially advance rapidly across Jawf, a flat, desert province bordering Saudi Arabia. That province is also a gateway to Saada, the rebels’ northern stronghold, where Saudi planes have been dropping fliers urging people to support the ‘‘legitimate’’ government of internationally-recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.