Clashes break out between Arakan Army, military on Rakhine State’s Ramree Island

The junta has deployed its army, navy and air force in escalating battles against the Arakan Army (AA) that began on Monday on Rakhine State’s Ramree (Yanbye) Island. “The military is firing heavy artillery shells at [Ramree] from Thandwe,” a local from the island—the largest on the Rakhine coast—told Myanmar Now on Monday afternoon, referring to a town more than 120 miles south where junta navy vessels are located. He described the shelling as “reckless” and noted that the number of casualties was not known, but that one civilian was reportedly injured and much of Ramree’s population had been stranded by the fighting, with few residents able to leave for the mainland. “The majority of the people are trapped inside their own houses as the military is relentlessly firing heavy artillery shells,” the local man continued. Junta troops stationed inside a pagoda compound on the Thein Taung hill on Ramree were initially targeted in a highway attack by some 100 AA troops at around 8am, according to a source close to the military. Fighting also occurred near the island’s central market. By 1:30pm, the military had begun carrying out aerial bombings on Ramree. The island is the starting point of a nearly 500-mile natural gas pipeline that runs through central and northeastern Myanmar into China’s Yunnan province, making the site strategic to the junta’s own economic interests and Chinese investment. On Sunday, two men from Thayetchaung village on the island were detained in the early afternoon by junta soldiers while on their way to a clinic, according to a statement by the Brotherhood Alliance, of which the AA is a member, alongside the Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army. The arrests come as the military has been targeting civilians for interrogation across the state, accusing them of having ties to the AA. AA flag is raised at the junta tactical base near the 105-Mile Trade Zone outside Muse in northern Shan State after it was captured by resistance forces on December 15 (Twan Mrat Naing) Fighting has also intensified elsewhere in Rakhine State, with battles also breaking out between the AA and the military in Pauktaw on December 13. The junta army and navy have repeatedly fired artillery at villages in Pauktaw, as well as those in Rathedaung, Maungdaw, and Ann townships, injuring several civilians. From late October until mid-December the AA also seized some 140 junta posts, including two tactical bases, in neighbouring Chin State’s Paletwa Township along the Kaladan River, which separates Rakhine State from Bangladesh. The capture of the tactical bases in particular was seen as a significant military gain for the ethnic armed organisation, which is attempting to fortify its supply line through western Myanmar. According to AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha, the bases are of great importance because they are located near key sections of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, an Indian-backed development scheme that will link the Indian port city of Kolkata to Sittwe, capital of Rakhine State. The project is due for completion at the end of this year.

Clashes break out between Arakan Army, military on Rakhine State’s Ramree Island

Fighting is increasingly occurring near sites strategic to foreign investment, as Ramree is the starting point of a natural gas pipeline that runs hundreds of miles to China’s Yunnan Province

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