Fierce clashes reported as AA-led forces continue advance into Ayeyarwady Region

Myanmar’s military deployed drones and paramotors to counter advancing anti-junta forces in Ayeyarwady Region’s Lemyethna Township, near the Rakhine State border, over the weekend, according to local sources.The Arakan Army (AA) and allied groups engaged in fierce clashes with regime forces near Aung Zan Kwin, a village close to the Pathein-Monywa highway in Lemyethna Township, on Sunday morning, the sources said.“Fighting was very intense yesterday. The junta soldiers retreated after suffering heavy losses,” a man from the nearby village of San Kone told Myanmar Now on Monday.“A warplane also dropped two bombs near our village this morning,” he added.The junta troops also advanced into the villages of Ka Nyin Taing and Kyaung Kwin, less than two miles from the Pathein-Monywa highway, on Sunday, local sources said. These villages are around a 17-mile drive north of the junta’s Artillery Battalion (AB) 344 base, located near the village of Myauk San in neighbouring Yegyi Township.Fighting near the villages of Chin Le, roughly three miles south of Aung Zan Kwin, and Wut Kone, some two miles to the north, was especially intense, sources close to the anti-regime forces said.The military regime also conducted paramotor and drone attacks on resistance targets on a hill near Aung Zan Kwin, according to locals.Since February, fighting in Rakhine State has spread into Ayeyarwady Region as AA-led forces have advanced towards the regime’s Light Infantry Battalion 308 base in Tabaung Township, on the Gwa-Ngathainggyaung road—regarded as a gateway to Ayeyarwady Region—as well as the AB 344 base in Yegyi Township.More than 2,000 people have been forced to flee the fighting in Lemyethna Township since March 19, according to the Ayeyarwady Youths’ Union, a local activist group.“The damage has been extensive, with pagodas and other religious buildings also being damaged by the junta air raids,” a member of the group told Myanmar Now.In Yeygi Township, roughly 1,300 people have been displaced as regime troops have entered the villages of Boe Taw and War Taw Kwin, near the border with Thabaung Township, to establish defensive positions, local sources said.Airstrikes have also driven nearly 2,400 people out of villages in Thabaung Township, according to the Ayeyarwady Youths’ Union.“At least 18 villages in Thabaung Township are now empty amid ongoing fighting. A dozen villages were also targeted by junta aerial assaults,” a representative from the organisation said.Meanwhile, three columns of anti-junta forces are said to be advancing on Thabaung, Yegyi, and Lemyethna townships. This comes following the AA’s capture of the villages of Ma Gyi Zin and Baw Mi in Pathein Township in January.

Fierce clashes reported as AA-led forces continue advance into Ayeyarwady Region

The regime deployed drones and paramotors to help defend its increasingly vulnerable positions along the Rakhine-Ayeyarwady border, sources said

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