Junta airstrikes intensify as push to retake Falam stalls

Myanmar’s military has intensified air attacks and reinforced ground troops in northern Chin State’s Falam Township this week after a large-scale offensive aimed at retaking the town stalled for nearly three months, according to the Chin National Defence Force (CNDF). The junta has been advancing toward Falam since late October, launching a pincer-style assault with two columns. The junta forces are currently about 13 miles from the town, where clashes continue, a CNDF spokesperson said. “At times they seize some of our forward positions, and at other times we push them back,” CNDF spokesperson Salai Tin Mi Htut told Myanmar Now. “Right now both sides are holding their ground, but it doesn’t look like they are able to advance. They appear to be entrenching where they are.” He added that a new ground column of around 200 troops moved in through Thaingnin village on Monday night, raising concerns that fighting could further intensify. Falam, home to Infantry Battalion 268, was captured by the Chin Brotherhood (CB), a coalition of Chin resistance forces, in April 2025 after more than five months of fighting. The junta has sought to retake the strategically important town, located near the state capital Hakha and a key communications hub, by pushing one column from the northwest via Kalay’s Thaingnin area and another from the south via Webula. While Chin resistance forces have largely blocked the junta’s ground columns for nearly three months, Salai Tin Mi Htut pointed out that the military is relying heavily on airpower. “Airstrikes have been extremely intense, almost daily,” he said. “Our data shows between 1,500 and 1,600 aerial attacks over the past two to three months, involving both Y-12 aircraft and jets.” Salai Tin Mi Htut claimed that more than half of the junta’s ground troops were newly conscripted soldiers with little combat experience and low morale. Two villages in Falam Township have been almost completely destroyed by airstrikes, he said, forcing thousands of residents from both the eastern and western parts of the township to flee. The military had initially included Falam among five townships where it planned to hold elections, hoping to regain control of the town before polling. However, after failing to break resistance lines, the plan was later scrapped. Of Chin State’s nine townships, resistance forces now control large parts of the south—including Paletwa, Matupi, Mindat and Kanpetlet—as well as northern areas such as Falam, Tonzang and Thantlang. Elections have only been held in Hakha and Tedim.The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported earlier this month that more than3.6 million people have been displaced nationwide since the 2021 coup, including over 104,800 from Chin State.

Junta airstrikes intensify as push to retake Falam stalls

Unable to break Chin resistance lines on the ground, junta forces have turned to heavy airpower

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