Rebel Fire and China’s Ire in Myanmar

                         (The staff article from the REUTERS on 16 December 2023)

This popular film forced China to act.

Dec 15 (Reuters) - Generals from Myanmar's junta held peace talks in June near the border with China with representatives of three powerful ethnic armies. They sat across a wide table covered with blue cloth and decorated with elaborate bouquets.

But the rebels were playing a double-game. Secretly, the ethnic armies - collectively called the Three Brotherhood Alliance - had already laid the groundwork for Operation 1027, a major offensive launched in October that has become the most significant threat to the regime since it seized power in a 2021 coup.

"We were already preparing for the operation when we met them," said Kyaw Naing, a spokesman for the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), a largely ethnic-Chinese group that is part of the rebel coalition.

Reuters interviewed a dozen resistance officials with knowledge of the operation, as well as analysts and other people familiar with the matter. Some spoke on condition of anonymity because the offensive is ongoing.

Planning Postwar Future of Burma’s Military

              (Zachary Abuza’s article from the NIKKEI ASIA on 29 November 2023)

Time to Demolish the Myanmar Military.

Time to start planning postwar future of Myanmar's military: Rebuilding will not be possible without thorough reform of the security sector. The Burman-dominated army should be disbanded and rebuilt around regiments formed along ethno-linguistic lines.

For the first time since Myanmar's military seized power on Feb. 1, 2021, there are signs that the leadership is seriously rattled. The launch of an unprecedented coordinated offensive last month by three key ethnic armies has had a contagion effect, leading to a wave of concurrent attacks around the country by allied and affiliated ethnic resistance organizations and militias, known as people's defense forces.

Alongside the capture of more than 150 military posts, including those at two key trade hubs along the Chinese border, there are reports of growing desertions and the surrender of at least two battalions. While the regime's defeat is not a given, it is now possible to start to imagine a return to true civilian rule.

Myanmar’s Army Losing Ground Badly

       (David Rising’s AP article from the PBS NEWS HOUR on 01 December 2023)

One mass grave of Myanmar soldiers.

BANGKOK (AP) — About two weeks into a major offensive against Myanmar’s military-run government by an alliance of three well-armed militias of ethnic minorities, an army captain, fighting in a jungle area near the northeastern border with China, lamented that he’d never seen such intense action.

His commander in Myanmar’s 99th Light Infantry Division had been killed in fighting in Shan state the week before and the 35-year-old career soldier said army outposts were in disarray and being hit from all sides.

“I have never faced these kinds of battles before,” the combat veteran told The Associated Press by phone. “This fighting in Shan is unprecedented.” Eight days later the captain was dead himself, killed defending an outpost and hastily buried near where he fell, according to his family.

The coordinated offensive in the northeast has inspired resistance forces around the country to attack, and Myanmar’s military is falling back on almost every front. The army says it’s regrouping and will regain the initiative, but hope is rising among opponents that this could be a turning point in the struggle to oust the army leaders who toppled democratically elected Aung San Suu Kyi almost three years ago.

Burma After Myanmar Army is Destroyed?

 (Billy Ford’s article from the United States Institute of Peace on November-16, 2023)

We Shouldn’t Fear a Resistance Victory in Myanmar: Research shows the fight against the junta is seeding fertile ground for a more inclusive, equitable and stable state.

As the national uprising against Myanmar’s coup regime has gained strength, a singular question has hovered over the widening campaign: If this patchwork of ethnic armed groups, deposed elected leaders, activists and armed defense forces manages to topple the junta, would they be able to govern, or would the country descend into greater chaos?

That question has gained urgency as recent developments put the military’s staying power in growing doubt. Since October 27, armed resistance groups have seized numerous strategic border crossings along Myanmar’s frontier with China, India and Thailand and routed the army from more than 150 bases or posts.

Lashio City Beseiged by the Ethnic Armies

   (Based on the staff article from the MYANMAR NOW on 15 November 2023)

Lashio City, the capital of Shan-North, has been cut off from the Proper Burma and overwhemingly surrounded by the armies of Northern Alliance. The North Eastern Divisional Command (Ya-Ma-Kha) of Myanmar Army will be the first divisional command seriously threatened by the ethnic rebels in the Modern history of Burma.

The UNION HIGHWAY is now totally blocked at the south of Lashio since Northern Alliance’s TNLA has occupied the major towns of Naung-Cho, Kyauk-Mel, and Thibaw. And the Northen Alliance’s MNDAA has taken over the towns of Tar-Moe-Nye, Kun-Lone, and Chin-Shwe-Haw thus blocking the northern access to Lashio.

The only way in and out of Lashio is the Taunggyi-Lashio Highway as the Lashio Airport is now restricted for Miitary Airplanes only. The trains have been stopped since the Operation 1027 started in October-27.

The Battle for Lashio City: Drones and Artillery

Both China-made suicide drones and spy drones are now flying all over Lashio and looking for targets and collecting intelligence. The troops defending Ya-Ma-Kha is also responding to the drone threats by aimlessly shooting their big guns all over the surrounding ares of Lashio and killing many civilians.

Loikaw Has Fallen: Myanmar Army Rapidly Collapsing!

              (Based on the staff articles from the KHIT THIT MEDIA in November 2023)

Capital city of Kayah (Kayinni) State Loikaw has fallen into the hands of KNDF (Krenni Nationl Defence Force) on November-13 fater a hevy fighting between KNDF forces and LID-66 (Light Infantry Division-66) of now-demoralized Myanmar Army.

Two battalions of LID-66, namely LIB-6 and LIB-425 were annihilated by the rebels after four days of intense fightings. All of LIB-425 was killed but half of LIB-6 laid down their weapons and surrendered to the rebels after their CO and senior officers and many soldiers were killed.

After the rapid success of Northen Allinace’s Operation 1027 KNDF initiated their operation 1111 on November-11 the Remembrance Day and within four days Loikaw was surrounded and the Myanmar Army troops defending the city has quickly surrendered.

Demoralised Myanmar Army troops are deserting and sometimes surrendering their posts without a serious fight. Most Myanmar commanders of battalions, tactical commands (Byu-hars), and division are now strongly believing that the war is lost as they have lost their confidence in their Commander-in-Chief that Power-Mad Dictator Min Aung Hlaing who did not even dare to come out of his fortified-bunker in Nay Pyi Daw. 

Kun-Lone The Fortress Has Fallen!

      (Based on the staff articles from the aKHIT THIT MEDIA in November 2023)

Finally, the Fortress Kun-lone, defended by a 2000-strong Tactical Command (Byu-har) of Myanmar Army for many decades  since the 1970s has fallen into the hands of MNDAA (Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army), one of the Northern Alliance group of ethnic insurgent armies.

Kun-Lone is the most strategic town on the west bank of Salween River. The town is the crucial gateway to Northen Shan State’s capital Lashio the heavily-fortified base of Myanmar Army’s Northeastern Divisional Command (Ya-Ma-Kha).

Now the Fortress Kun-lone has fallen and the rebel ethnic armies can march straight into the population centres of Shan State and then to the Mandalay City which is just a stone throw away from the Nay-pyi-daw the lair of mad dictator Min Aung Hlaing. His evil days are now rapidly numbered.

Kokang Has Fallen: Operation 1027 Took Shan-North

      (Based on the staff articles from the KHIT THIT MEDIA & AFP in November 2023)

Burma (Myanmar) is a union consisting of seven states, seven divisions, one union territory, five self-administered regions, and one self-administered division. Kokang Region is one of five self-administered regions and now it has fallen into the hands of so-called Northern Alliance.

The Northern Alliance is the military coalition of four Ethnic Insurgent Armies namely KIA – Kachin Independence Army, MNDAA - Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, TNLA - Talang National Liberation Army, and AA - Arakan Army.

On October-27 more than ten thousands fighters of Northern Alliance started the massive operation called Operation-1027 and since then the Alliance has defeated three Myanmar Army divisions based in Northern Shan State and taken over the whole Shan-North region within nine days.

Blood Railway: Crucial Mandalay-Myitkyinar Train

              (Based on the staff article from the KACHIN-NEWS-GROUP in October 2023.)

Bodies of Burmese burnt to crisp.

The most crucial train line in Burma, from the ancient capital city of Mandalay to Myitkyinar the Kachin State’s Capital, has been lying dead silently for more than two years since the people rebellion in Sagaing Division erupted after the hated Myanmar Army’s violent coup in 2021.

The nearly 600-mile long train line runs through most of the Sagaing Division, West of River Irrawaddy, to get to the Kachin State at the northern end of Burma now known as Myanmar.

For more than 100 years the train had been running daily between Mandalay and Myitkyinar like a clock-work till 2021. The train was the only reliable connection between Myitkyina and the rest of Burma. Plane trips were too expensive and the Irrawaddy there was too shallow to navigate and there were no roads back then.