(Lin Thit’s post from the IRRAWADDY TIMES on 12 March 2026.)
AA (Arakan Army)
Tightens Noose in Battle for Rakhine Capital Sittwe: Fighting has intensified
around Sittwe as the Arakan Army (AA)’s pincer offensive closes in on the
Rakhine State capital, striking junta positions on both the northeastern and
northwestern approaches.
AA
troops are now attacking the Shwe Min Gan naval base on the city’s northeastern
edge as well as a string of fortified regime outposts along the Mayu River to
the northwest. Targeted positions include riverbank posts around Ah Myint Kyun
and the heavily mined and fortified village of Kywe Tae.
The Kywe Tae fortress is designed to shield the regime’s Padaleik Battalion and the Regional Operations Command headquarters against approaches from AA-held territory across the Mayu estuary.
A military source familiar with the area said
the junta had turned the entire riverbank into a defensive belt for the city,
which sits at the southern tip of the peninsula. “They’ve dug trenches, laid
mines, and built fortified bunkers all along the Mayu,” he said. “They’ve
cleared out the whole village to turn it into a camp. There are more than 100
troops there.”
Ah
Myint Kyun is another key outpost on the junction of Sittwe and AA-held
Rathedaung and Ponnagyun townships. A former resident from Ah Myint Kyun, now
in AA‑held territory, said the fall of these outposts would open the way to the
junta’s core positions.
“If
AA takes those positions, they’ll be right at the gates of the Padaleik
battalion,” he said. “A number of battalions line up between Padaleik and the
Regional Operations Command.” Residents inside Sittwe say the junta has been
firing artillery toward Rathedaung and Ponnagyun while military vehicles patrol
the streets. Arrests and searches have intensified.
People
in a dozen Muslim villages and displacement camps on the northwestern side of
Sittwe are trapped. Locals said junta commanders have been forcing men from
those villages into military service. “About 50 Muslim residents were arrested
in recent days,” one resident said.
A woman from Sittwe’s Pyi Taw Thar ward said residents fear their city could become a battlefield as the AA closes in. “Artillery shells are already landing close to the city,” she said. “It’s terrifying. Even flying out is difficult now. If full‑scale fighting breaks out, the whole city will become human shields. Meanwhile, the families of military officers are being quietly flown to Yangon,” she added.
The
regime has kept Sittwe under blockade for years, leaving residents with only
one way out—by air. But flight tickets have become prohibitively expensive and
increasingly difficult to obtain. Prices for basic goods have also surged:
gasoline now sells for around 40,000 kyats per liter, a sack of rice is nearing
300,000 kyats, charcoal costs about 50,000 kyats per bag, and meat is over
60,000 kyats per viss, residents said.
The
AA began pushing toward Sittwe in late 2025 after seizing 14 of Rakhine’s 17
townships. In early January, AA units based in neighboring Ponnagyun overran
junta strongholds on the border, tightening the noose around the capital. By
early March, fighting had reached within 2 km of the city.
The
junta has deployed around 2,000 ground troops and roughly 1,000 naval personnel
aboard a dozen warships, supported by Muslim militias and fighters from the
co-opted Arakan Liberation Party (ALP). Riverbanks are heavily mined. In
mid‑2024, the regime forcibly relocated residents from around 20 villages
outside Sittwe into the town, effectively creating a human shield around its
bases.
The
AA is also fighting the regime in Kyaukphyu—home to major Chinese‑backed
infrastructure projects. The third township still in junta hands, Manaung, is a
sparsely populated island of lesser strategic importance.
