Junta escalates nationwide offensives as elections loom

As Myanmar’s junta moves ahead with plans for national elections, its forces have escalated military offensives across the country in recent weeks — launching new ground assaults and intensifying airstrikes on resistance-held areas. After losing control of over half of Chin State, the junta launched counteroffensives to regain territory. In late October, troops from Kalay Township in neighboring Sagaing Region advanced west, sending several hundred soldiers toward resistance-held areas. Their main target, the strategic Kennedy Mountain camp in Tedim Township—13 miles southeast of Tedim—fell to junta forces on November 4 after days of intense fighting, marking a battlefield gain.Kennedy Mountain, one of Chin State’s highest peaks, overlooks the key Kalay–Tedim road linking Sagaing Region to the Chin hills. Its summit hosts a strategic military outpost that provides control over supply routes and troop movements, making it one of the most fiercely contested positions in northwestern Myanmar. The loss of the camp comes two years after Chin resistance groups captured the critical mountaintop base in November, 2023. Captain Kaung Thu Win, a former junta officer with the Matupi Tactical Unit who defected in December 2021 to join the Civil Disobedience Movement, said the camp’s importance cannot be understated. "If the junta can control this mountain properly, they could continue to maintain Tedim and also be in a position to observe Kalay,” he said. “Even more, they can control other areas like Tonzang and Cikha. This is a key mountain for both sides.” In Mandalay Region, the junta regained control of the Ingyinmyaing Air Defense Base and Sedawgyi Dam camps in Madaya Township on November 6 and 7, according to resistance forces. The junta troops re-entered and occupied the No. 1014 Air Defense Base near Ingyin Myaing village on the eastern side of the township and on November 7, an officer from a local resistance group told Myanmar Now.“We had to pull back from Ingyin Myaing,” the resistance officer said on November 6. “The next day, they also retook the Sedawgyi Dam camp.” Backed by greater manpower and firepower, junta forces have retaken key areas of Madaya Township since launching a counteroffensive in early November. Their renewed push north, reaching villages near Sedawgyi Dam this month, has sparked fear and mass displacement among residents, according to local sources. Hundreds of junta troops have launched raids across Pauk Township, Magway Region, forcing around 18,000 residents from more than 20 villages to flee, according to the Anyar Myae Force, a resistance group.Starting on October 29, troops from the Defense Industries Factory No. 22 in Magway’s Seikphyu Township began advancing into villages along the Pauk-Seikphyu border, Bo Bo Thant Zin, an officer with the resistance group told Myanmar Now. "The army columns keep pushing in and out, sometimes amassing over 200 troops, other times emerging as one column with about 100 soldiers, then coming out with over 200 again” the officer said. “That's what we're facing now.” He noted that residents from at least 22 villages—roughly 15,000 to 18,000 people—have fled their homes, adding that the displacement spans much of the area’s rural population. He also said that junta columns are collaborating with pro-junta militia groups, which are actively burning and destroying civilian villages. In Rakhine State, junta forces carried out air, artillery, and drone attacks on Arakan Army (AA)–controlled areas near Sittwe, killing five civilians and injuring at least eight, according to AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha. “This is consistent with the junta’s usual tactics—using terror and violence against civilians,” he said. “The military council is once again committing clear war crimes.” The November 7 airstrike in Rakhine’s Ponnagyun Township struck Yoetayoke village around 11:30 am, killing four women and a man, and wounding seven others. Experts say the junta’s escalation of ground offensives nationwide are causing thousands of people to flee, increasing mass displacement, and exasperating the humanitarian situation on the ground. "After the offensive, they burned villages,” a displaced person told Myanmar Now. “Before burning, they took all valuable items from the houses, food, clothes—everything.”

Junta escalates nationwide offensives as elections loom

Regime forces have recaptured key outposts in Chin State and Mandalay Region, and intensified air raids in Rakhine

Subscribe for full access

Explainer: Who are the companies and cronies backing Myanmar junta leader’s Thailand visit?

From palace stages to exile: A Myanmar dancer who chose conscience over ceremony

Her parents gone, a Myanmar student prays for the return of a father lost in conflict

Rakhine State floods put AA administration to its biggest test yet

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

Myanmar junta airstrike kills eight family members in southern Rakhine State

Regime arrests 19 CSO members on suspicion of supporting education in resistance areas

Fighting erupts between junta and KIA troops near Mongmit in northern Shan

Myanmar regime continues airstrikes amid flooding in Sagaing