Burma coup resistance notes December 9, 2023
Karen forces liberate a town, making for 21 nationwide so far, and over 300 junta camps captured; the junta is now sending unwilling old men and prisoners to fight; nationwide fuel scarcity.
Northern Shan-----------------
When 272 junta troops and police surrendered to the Kokang ethnic army on Nov. 27, others fled instead, intending to fight later. On Dec. 2 the Kokang hunted them down and initiated a battle in which at least 100 died. Among the dead was northeast HQ commander Brig. Gen. Aung Zaw Lin. The junta denies that he is dead, insisting that he is at his duties, while the Kokang are trying to return his dead body. (Khit Thit Media 12/2, People's Spring 12/7)
The Kokang and Ta’ang armies continued seizing junta bases and camps in northern Shan State this week, in Namkhan, Kyaukme, Konkyan, and Laukkai Townships, among others.
Kawthoolei-------------------
Karen army Brigade 3 and allied forces liberated Moo town in Kler Lwi Htoo District during a battle Dec. 3-4, capturing the police barracks and 2 army battalion camps and killing at least 70 junta troops. A nearby bridge outpost was then withdrawn. Junta Telegram channels in Moo pleaded for reinforcements, while some of the troops fled the battle. The junta air-dropped reinforcements by helicopter, but those troops then surrendered, as did the ones who ran away, all captured by the Karen forces along with 40 family members. Photos show many junta soldiers were gray-haired and aging. Junta helicopters fired on their own troops who were fleeing. About 1,500 Karen-led soldiers then cleared the area. The red Revolutionary flag now flies over the camps. (People's Spring 12/5)
A story emerged that when junta troops waved a white flag to surrender, some of them used the moment to run to their arsenal for ammunition to keep fighting, an abuse of the protection afforded by the white flag of surrender. Those troops ended up among the 70+ killed. (Khit Thit Media 12/7)
Jet bombing of Moo has caused 70,000 civilians in the area to flee as internal refugees. (The Irrawaddy E 12/9)
The same Karen-led forces tried for 2 days to attack 3 junta positions in nearby Natthankwin town, Dec. 5-6, but the junta took human shields so the Karen forces had to break off the attack. (Myaelatt Athan 12/7)
In Kaw T’Ree the battle is still not resolved at this point. A video shows Karen-led forces in control of the Asia Highway where it passes beside the town, but what is happening in the rest of the town is less well known. Karen forces already captured two nearby camps and are fighting for the town while junta jets destroy random things.
The Karen army and PDF again bombed the Myawaddy city police station and the district police HQ on Dec. 6 and 7. Damage and casualties aren’t reported, though ambulances came. The Karen bombed the Myawaddy police station with devastating effect in September, killing 9 senior police and wounding others. (People's Spring 12/7)
Karen army Brigade 1 and allied PDFs now control the Yangon-Mawlamyaing highway in Doo Tha Htoo District. This cuts the junta’s ability to support the troops struggling to maintain some control in Kaw T’Ree town. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 12/5)
Karen-led forces flew kamikaze drone bombs into the junta’s southeast military HQ in Mawlamyaing on Dec. 1, wounding the junta’s governor for Mon State and targeting the home of the junta regional military commander, who directs the battle in Kaw T’Ree. (People's Spring 12/2)
The normally formidable Karen army Brigade 5 had a rough month in November 2023. It suffered 11 Karen soldiers killed and 50 wounded during 67 clashes, while inflicting only 24 junta fatalities and 13 injuries. The Karen casualties were mostly caused by jet bombing and mortar fire in Luthaw Township of Mutraw District. (People's Spring 12/3)
Local defense forces in Tavoy burned down the construction site of the junta’s new prison there on Dec. 4, destroying the construction, workers’ quarters, and heavy equipment. Six of the workers were arrested. (Than Lwin Times 12/5)
A front page-center article in America’s Washington Post news outlet highlighted the Kawthoolei government (KNU) jungle headquarters, the nearby Korean-built Kawthoolei Long Term Care hospital, and Karen army Brigade 7 which apparently gets deployed to a “neighboring state” to fight. These are all located just across the Thumwe River from Thailand about 2 hours drive north of the border city of Mae Sot. Brigade 7 does no fighting in Pa’an Township where it is based. The Post story is at https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/11/21/myanmar-military-karen-knu-rebels/
Karenni-------------------
Karenni defense forces continue to chip away at junta positions during week 5 of the battle for Loikaw. They now have the city completely surrounded and control 50-60% of it including downtown. The junta can no longer make moves on the ground and is only able to bomb by airstrike. Karenni forces captured another junta camp about 15 km east of Loikaw on Dec. 3, killing 9 junta troops and capturing 10. (Kantarawaddy Times 12/5)
Most of Mobye town is now liberated, but there are still over 400 junta troops hunkered in one or more positions, so the city cannot yet be said to be free. Residents have not returned and the place is deserted. (People's Spring 12/5) The junta’s supply routes into Karenni are blocked at Pekhon and Mobye.
Arakan-------------------
The Arakan Army spent 3 weeks attacking a key junta command base at Dayon in Paletwa Township of southern Chin State, and finally succeeded in storming in on Dec. 5. The base has two helipads for landing supplies and reinforcements, which the junta has now lost. It used airstrikes, chemical weapons, and artillery to resist the AA attack, in vain. The fall of Dayon will facilitate the taking of another more remote command base at Nongbu. Both of these are near the Bangladesh border. The AA suffered casualties in the battle, but those haven’t been reported for either side. (People's Spring 12/5)
The reports of chemical weapons use against the Arakan Army in Paletwa Township of southern Chin State follow 9 previous such reports among Ta’ang forces and civilians bombed in northern Shan State.. Arakan soldiers were sickened and made unconscious by fumes after a junt bombing. (People's Spring 12/4)
Chin-------------------
Chin defense forces are fighting for control of Mindat town. Some junta troops have been killed but the situation is still fluid. (People's Spring 12/5)
Post-Revolution governance and public services are beginning to come to Chin State. A company called ZNET is now providing satellite-based internet in Tantlan to public administration departments, Revolutionary battalions, civil police, and public health department. (People's Spring 12/3) The NUG was already assisting the municipal government of Kawlin in Sagaing Region to get set up after the town’s liberation in November.
The Zoland PDF uncovered a large cache of weapons hidden by junta troops when they were driven from their camp on Mt Kennedy on Nov. 21. The weapons were buried but found by the Chin forces. (Mizzima 12/5)
Kachin------------------
After capturing a junta base in Shweku Township on Dec. 1, the Kachin army and allied PDFs stormed another one at Bilu in Mo Hnyin Township on Dec. 5. This one was an air defense camp. The Kachin went on to take another junta/ethnic militia camp in Banmauk Township of northern Sagaing Region on Dec. 8. (Kachin News Group 12/7, 12/8)
Junta troops fired large caliber mortars in the general direction of Laiza, the free Kachin capital, on Dec. 6, but missed badly. The shells fell over the border in China where they nearly damaged a banana farm. (The 74 Media)
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
The Mandalay PDF blew up a junta patrol in Maddaya, only a few kilometers north of Mandalay city, on Dec. 3, killing 15 junta/Pyu Saw Htee and wounding 7. (People's Spring 12/3)
A patchwork of 200 pro-junta forces is trying to retake Kampat town on the Sagaing-India border. Junta troops, Pyu Saw Htee militia, and a local ethnic lackey group are attacking the outer defenses of the town, which is held by Kachin army and PDF forces after being liberated in November. (People's Spring 12/7) The junta troops caught 4 PDF soldiers guarding a minefield and tortured and stabbed them to death. (The Irrawaddy E 12/9) So far the junta has not been able to retake any of its 300+ positions lost since Oct. 27.
PDFs attacked a police barracks in Linkadaw in northern Myaing Township of Magway Region on Dec. 7, but were strafed by helicopter machine gun fire and lost 9 PDF soldiers killed. The attack had to be called off. Linkadaw is the last remaining junta presence in northern Myaing Township, and the PDFs regularly fire mortars and drone bombs to weaken it. Dec. 7 was meant to be the ground assault. (Myaelatt Athan 12-8)
Urban warfare-------------------
An urban guerrilla group attacked a police station and a junta electric company office in Thuwanna Township of Yangon city on Dec. 5 as an expansion of Operation 10/27 into the main city. (Than Lwin Times 12/5)
Someone detonated 3 large bombs near the Yangon Region Hluttaw (parliament) building in downtown Yangon the night of Dec. 1. On Dec. 8 bombs exploded in Tamwe, Thaketa, Thinganjun, and Boldataung Townships of Yangon. (Khit Thit Media 12/8)
As the junta weakens, protesters in Yangon are becoming more audacious with marches and rallies. The night of Dec. 7 protesters set up a burning tire barricade in Tamwe Township. Police responded by shooting two youths to death. (Khit Thit Media 12/9)
Severe fuel shortages are plaguing Yangon and other parts of the country. Gas stations are shut and traffic has decreased due to the shortage. Brawling has broken out in Yangon over the shortage of fuel and the competition to get what remains. (The Irrawaddy B 12/5)
Junta decline------------------
Since Operation 10/27 began 13 senior junta officers have been killed at the rank of lieutenant colonel and major. Eleven others have been captured as prisoners of war. (Khit Thit Media 12/3) Besides running out of troops, the illegal regime is losing its commanders.
A leaked internal junta directive orders all battalions to “recruit” new soldiers by kidnapping youths from towns. In the past such practices caused young people to flee wherever the army went, and troops recruited forcibly tend to run away when they can.
The junta also says it will accept the return of deserters without punishment, and it is arming military wives and underage children with brief “training” periods. (Khit Thit Media 12/4) It is also taking thousands of former soldiers jailed for desertion, insubordination, and crimes committed while in the army, and sending them to fight on the front lines. Prisoners formerly considered unfit for service are now all the junta has left. (Myaelatt Athan 12/7)
As mentioned above, junta troops are surrendering and fleeing battles in growing numbers, and captured and killed troops are increasingly found to be middle-age and old men who don’t want to be there. The junta cannot possibly last much longer in this condition.
In addition to soldiers, junta civilian staff are changing sides. In Indaw Township of northern Sagaing Region over 100 government employees joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, depriving the junta of the means to administer the place. (Mizzima 12/5) In Kawlin Township, which was liberated a month ago, civilian administration has begun again.
Even where the junta still has a military presence, in places like Karenni and Karen States, it has no administrative capacity whatsoever. Its offices are shut down or destroyed, its staff fled or in hiding. In active war zones there is no administration or services, while in areas that have been liberated Revolutionary administration has taken over some functions and is building its capacity.
Terrorism--------------------
Troops and Pyu Saw Htee terrorists committed another massacre by fire, burning 18 civilians to death in Kaw Paing village of Monywa Township, Sagaing Region on Dec. 2. This was after a PDF attacked the terrorist camp. (Khit Thit Media 12/3) The junta has always believed this kind of extreme barbarity will help it win the war.
Heavy aerial bombing of civilian areas of Shan, Karenni, Sagaing, and Kawthoolei continues, destroying homes and schools and other non-military targets. Hundreds of civilians have been killed and injured.
Political and economic-------------------
Over 600 civil society groups urged the regional bloc ASEAN to stop calling for “inclusive talks” between the Naypyitaw junta and its victims. They emphasized that the Myanmar military has never at any point honored its negotiated agreements, and that there is no conceivable middle ground on which the junta and the Spring Revolution might agree. Negotiations would legitimize the illegal regime, and any vestige of power left it its hands would lead to a repeat of the entire cycle of violence. (The Irrawaddy 12/3)
Junta dictator Min Aung Hlaing made a plea for a “political solution” to the civil war, since his military solution is a disaster. The strongman who has been utterly incapable of learning from the failure of his systematic brutality called the Revolutionary groups “stupid” for attempting to solve the crisis through military action. He said this while his jets were dropping 500 pound bombs on civilians. (The Irrawaddy B 12/5) A junta member at a meeting in Beijing “begged” China to ask the Brotherhood Alliance to stop its devastating campaign in northern Shan State. China then advised a political (pro-junta) solution in Burma under the terms of the defunct 2008 constitution, but said it would not intervene directly. (The Irrawaddy E 12/8)
Sanctions and the junta’s catastrophic economic mismanagement mean there is not enough foreign hard currency to import fuel, and it is causing severe fuel shortages in all of Burma’s cities. No oil has been offloaded at Yangon’s Thilawa petroleum port for many days. Long lines of cars wait at some petrol stations, while others are simply closed for lack of inventory. Since most of the import-export crisis was caused by the junta’s mandatory artificial exchange rate which was 40% below the market rate, the junta announced on Dec.5 that it was removing the mandatory rate and allowing foreign currency exchange at the floating (real) rate. (Khit Thit Media 12/6)
-စီၤ ထံဆၢ
Thank you for compilation of update news inside the country. Keep it up a good work.
Mahn Kyaw Swe