Myanmar regime recaptures Alpha Cement Factory after a year under resistance control

Myanmar’s military has retaken the Alpha Cement Factory in Mandalay Region’s Patheingyi Township after more than a year of control by anti-junta forces, according to sources. Resistance forces captured the site on July 16, 2024, when the Mandalay People’s Defence Force (MDY-PDF) and its allies succeeded in overrunning junta troops stationed there after a month of heavy fighting. Located in Aungthapyay, a village on the Mandalay-Madaya road, the factory had been used by the military as a major base of operations in the area since the 2021 coup. Over the past year, the military launched repeated airstrikes and heavy artillery assaults on the plant in a bid to retake it. Its latest offensive began in mid-August, when it launched a multi-pronged ground campaign, supported by helicopter gunships and jet fighters, that finally forced resistance fighters to withdraw. “MDY-PDF forces have pulled out. They removed their equipment and left before the military advanced from the west,” a military source in Madaya Township told Myanmar Now on Thursday, adding that fierce clashes were still taking place near the plant. According to local residents, regime forces advanced on the factory in four separate columns, including one that moved down from the Shan Yoma mountains east of the factory. “They attacked from the mountains as well as the plains, while fighter jets, Y-12 aircraft, and Mi-35 helicopters were deployed continuously,” a resident of Aungthapyay said. The Alpha Cement Factory, owned by Chinese investors, lies about 20 miles north of the city of Mandalay and 11 miles south of the town of Madaya. Its location is considered strategically significant, as it borders Patheingyi, Madaya, and Pyin Oo Lwin townships. Military analysts say the site could serve as a staging ground for further offensives into resistance strongholds east of Madaya. Junta-run Myawaddy TV reported the recapture of the cement factory on Thursday, adding that the military has also recently retaken the nearby Phayaung Taung gold mine, which had been held by resistance groups for more than a year. The Phayaung Taung site is one of the largest gold-mining concessions in Mandalay Region, previously owned by junta crony Maung Ko, who formerly served as the region’s regime-appointed chief minister. The renewed fighting has forced thousands in Patheingyi and Madaya—including residents of the villages of Myakantha, Tharyarkone, Aungthapyay, Lin Myu Chaung, Wasundara, Dahatto and Sakhataung—to flee their homes in recent months. The MDY-PDF has not yet commented on the loss of the Alpha Cement Factory. The military’s recent advances in northern Mandalay come as part of a broader campaign to regain territory lost to the resistance. If the army consolidates its hold on Madaya, it could push further into Singu Township to the north, potentially threatening resistance supply lines to Sagaing Region, across the Ayeyarwady River. China, which has repeatedly called on the junta to protect its nationals and safeguard cross-border trade and investments, is likely to view the recapture of the factory as a key step toward securing its economic interests in central Myanmar.

Myanmar regime recaptures Alpha Cement Factory after a year under resistance control

The junta is expected to use the site as a staging ground for further offensives into resistance strongholds in Mandalay Region

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