Myanmar military deploys reinforcements, escalates attacks in Rakhine State

Amid fighting with the Arakan Army (AA), the military council has sent more supplies and reinforcements to Rakhine State, concentrating its forces near the sites of major development projects dependent on investment from China, local sources said. While continuing to suffer battlefield losses in northern Shan State on the China-Myanmar border, junta forces were also forced to fight off attacks by the AA in Rakhine State, especially in and near the southern towns of Kyaukphyu and Ramree. Along with two other anti-junta ethnic armed organisations, the AA is a member of the Brotherhood Alliance, which launched a coordinated offensive against the Myanmar military in October 2023 in northern Shan State, and weeks later, in Rakhine. Since late December, the military has deployed a massive force of infantry troops to Kyaukphyu District, near the starting point of a pipeline built to transport fuel to China and around the site of a recently renegotiated China-backed special economic zone (SEZ). Plans for the Kyaukphyu SEZ include deep sea ports on the nearby Ramree (Yanbye) and Maday islands, a bridge between them, and overland routes to transport goods from the ports to Mandalay. Battles broke out in mid-December in Ramree Island’s administrative centre, with the military firing shells at the town from more than 100 miles away. Most recently, junta forces carried out an airstrike on Ramree town on Tuesday afternoon, destroying a number of houses, according to a local resident who had fled. “A fighter jet bombed the town yesterday. However, it’s hard to say if the fighting is really intensifying. The jet just came out of nowhere, to be honest,” he said. Map showing the locations of both Kyaukphyu SEZ deep sea ports and the area around which recent clashes have been taking place (Myanmar Now) Protecting Chinese investments As clashes continued between junta forces and ethnic armed groups after several failed attempts to negotiate a ceasefire, the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs called on authorities in Myanmar on December 21 to protect Chinese investment projects and Chinese personnel in the country. Despite the fighting that had already broken out in the vicinity of the Kyaukphyu SEZ, the military council announced on December 26 it had signed a renegotiated, updated contract with the Chinese state-owned CITIC Group, the project’s majority stakeholder, which it looked forward to implementing. According to a 25-year-old resident of Ramree, between December 28 and 30 the junta not only sent new troops but also weapons and food to southern Rakhine State. “A serious battle happened, and then military aircraft came to drop off supplies, ammunition, and weapons,” he said. After new troops arrived by ship, a massive infantry force also carried out a raid on Ramree, according to the local man. He added that he believed the military was concentrating its forces on the island in order to protect the town of Kyaukphyu and the Chinese assets located there. “We expect the fighting in Ramree to escalate even more, and the AA doesn’t appear to be giving up either. The junta military are defending the town using massive ground forces and fighter jets,” he said. One Kyaukphyu resident told Myanmar Now that the military had deployed security forces at the town’s ports, entrances, and exits and that they were arresting people every day. “Kyaukphyu produces natural gas, so it has great economic importance. That’s why they’re defending it with the navy, army, air force, and the police,” he said. A Chinese development project in Kyaukphyu, seen in October 2019 (AFP) Hardship for civilians In November, the military closed down ports, beaches, and waterways around Kyaukphyu Township for a month, then announced in December that the closures would be extended until February. The military’s blockade included a ban on fishing and boat travel in the waterways around Kyaukphyu and Ramree Island, which has already reportedly resulted in the deaths of some rural villagers who were unable to reach hospitals for urgent treatment. “They’re not allowing anyone in or out. They even blocked the waterways. Two or three people died because the military said they didn’t have a doctor’s prescription or sufficient identification and didn’t allow them to travel,” a Ramree local said. Following the military blockade, Rakhine State’s civilian residents said essential goods were becoming scarce and the prices of medicine, cooking oil, and fuel oil had risen sharply. Because the blockade also cut off the supply of fuel needed for generators powering telecommunications towers, internet and phone connections in the area have also largely been lost. Some 10,000 residents of Ramree and 8,000 residents of nearby villages had been displaced by the fighting, according to a source involved in aiding internally displaced persons (IDPs). “The IDPs are coping with money problems and food scarcity. We are helping with food as much as we can. Even on days we haven’t gotten enough donations, we’ve tried to borrow rice from those who have it and give to those in need,” the source said. Junta attacks spread While sending reinforcements and supplies to Kyaukphyu and Ramree, the military also clashed with the AA and escalated its indiscriminate attacks elsewhere in Rakhine State this week, sources said. According to Pe Than, a veteran Rakhine State politician, fighting has also reached the townships of Mrauk-U and Pauktaw to the north. “Their bases are always firing off heavy artillery and disturbing the people. That’s all the military does in Rakhine State,” he said. Soldiers travelling to Sittwe from Buthidaung in 2017 (AFP) Pe Than, a former member of parliament, added that junta forces appeared to be leaving their bases in rural areas and establishing strongholds in the towns. “They don’t dare leave the towns, but they have two or three battalions in each town, concentrated in urban centres,” he said. The Brotherhood Alliance—of which the AA is a member—said in a statement on Wednesday that the military had also deployed troops to the nearby townships of Ponnagyun and Myebon and the state capital, Sittwe. The AA also claimed on Thursday to have overrun scores of junta outposts in Chin State and northern Rakhine State since the start of Operation 1027. In a possible retaliation, regime forces have stepped up indiscriminate shelling and airstrikes. Three civilians were killed—two of whom were children—and 18 were injured in the first days of January in Kyauktaw Township, some 50 miles north of Sittwe, according to humanitarian volunteers. A junta aerial attack on Ah Lel Kyun, Kyauktaw Township—a village of around 400 households some six miles northeast of Kyauktaw on the east bank of the Kaladan River—killed one villager and injured 12, including four children, the volunteers said. “A woman died on the spot and her two children—a three-month-old infant and a seven-year-old girl—sustained injuries. Ten other people were also wounded in the airstrikes yesterday,” one of the volunteers said. Three of the villagers injured in the attacks are currently in critical condition, the volunteers added, but have not received adequate treatment because junta troops have blocked access to the Kyauktaw’s urban centre and the medical facilities located there. According to one resident, Ah Lel Kyun is far from the site of recent fighting between the Arakan Army and junta forces, which has occurred mostly around a key military base near Tin Ma village, more than five miles upstream on the Kaladan River. Civilian casualties due to military artillery fire were also reported by locals on Tuesday in Myauk Taung village, between Tin Ma and Ah Lel Kyun. Six people were injured and two, including a child, were killed when three shells struck the village that day. The Sittwe-based Development Media Group estimated that, as of Tuesday, there had been at least 55 civilian deaths and 189 injuries in northern Rakhine State and in neighbouring Paletwa Township in Chin State since mid-November.

Myanmar military deploys reinforcements, escalates attacks in Rakhine State

Following clashes with the AA and calls from China to protect its citizens and assets in Myanmar, the junta concentrates its forces and intensifies assaults on Rakhine State by land, sea, and air

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