Myanmar military sends navy ships to defend Ayeyarwady Region towns near Rakhine border

Myanmar’s military has sent naval ships deep into Ayeyarwady Region to defend its positions in areas bordering Rakhine State, as the Arakan Army (AA) intensifies its push into the region. According to local sources, three naval vessels carrying heavy weapons and tanks anchored near the town of Ngathaingchaung on the Pathein River on Wednesday after leaving the Pathein Naval Base Headquarters the day before. The ships then continued upriver to the town of Aing Tha Pyu, where one remained while the other two proceeded to Lemyethna, a town further to the north, the sources said. “The three ships were carrying artillery. Two went as far as the Lemyethna bridge, while one stopped at Aing Tha Pyu,” said a local man who spoke on condition of anonymity. The AA and its allies began pushing into Ayeyarwady Region in January, when they captured junta army bases near the coastal villages of Ma Gyi Zin and Baw Mi in Pathein Township. The AA-led forces later advanced into Ngathaingchaung, Yegyi, and Lemyethna townships along the road from Gwa Township in Rakhine State, while junta forces have tried to control the area west of the Pathein River to resist the offensive. Last month, the AA seized defensive outposts along the Gwa- Ngathaingchaung road in Yegyi Township, forcing the junta’s Artillery Battalion 334 to move some of its heavy weapons east to the town of Kyonpyaw. According to local resistance sources, if the AA can can capture the regime’s key positions in Yegyi Township, it will be able to control the Ayeyarwady Region section of the Pathein-Monywa road, giving it access to Bago and Magway regions, where it is also engaged in fighting in areas bordering Rakhine State. The arrival of naval vessels in the area signals the regime’s determination to prevent this happening. According to Zin Yaw, a former Myanmar army captain who has defected to the resistance, the ships are carrying not just artillery, but also amphibious tanks. “The tanks can be used on both land and water, so they can be used to easily deploy their forces,” he told Myanmar Now. He added that Yegyi, Lemyethna, and Ngathaingchaung can be reached within minutes from the junta’s air force base in the Ayeyarwady Region capital of Pathein, where the headquarters of the Southwestern Regional Military Command is located. Airstrikes on villages in the area have reportedly forced tens of thousands of local residents to flee. The regime has also severed phone and internet connections and cut off food supplies to conflict areas, according to Zin Yaw. The Ayeyarwady Youth Union, which assists displaced villagers, estimates that the junta carried out at least 20 airstrikes in the region between January and May of this year, killing 15 civilians and injuring 70.

Myanmar military sends navy ships to defend Ayeyarwady Region towns near Rakhine border

The move comes as the Arakan Army and its allies intensify their efforts to take junta positions in the area

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