Burma coup resistance notes December 16, 2023
Ta’ang and Kachin liberate more towns; Yangon heats up; Karenni seize state police barracks; Arakan take key command centers; junta uses orphans as human shields.
Northern Shan------------------
The Ta’ang army (TNLA) liberated Namsan town, halfway between Mandalay and the China border, on Dec. 15 after a 6 day battle. Casualty figures aren’t yet reported, but a video shows some captured junta troops. Jets and helicopters bombed and strafed to try to prevent the fall of the town and evacuate a senior officer, but couldn’t. (People's Spring 12/15)
Ta’ang forces stormed the junta police barracks in Namkam city on Dec. 11, causing 21 troops to flee. Those troops then joined with a relief column of 20 other troops, but the Ta’ang confronted and killed all of them, including 2 commanders. The junta then sent 70 reinforcements by helicopter, and the Ta’ang forces killed 25 of those; the rest then fled in chaos. (Khit Thit Media 12/13)
Kokang and allied forces overcame and occupied a key junta camp at the strategic highway junction at 105 Mile on Dec. 14, only 10 km from Muse city on the Chinese border. All traffic passes beneath this hilltop camp. The fall of the camp comes after a siege lasting many days. (Mekong News 12/15)
Ta’ang forces continued to attack and seize junta military bases in Namsan, Muse, Kutkai, and Mandon Townships. On Dec. 10 they captured a base in Kutkai city itself, along with a large number of guns together with ammunition. (Chindwin Yoma News 12/11) The next day they got 3 junta camps in Namsan Township and one in Lashio Township, killing 25 troops. (People's Spring 12/11)
The Ta’ang army and its protégé the Mandalay PDF attacked a junta camp in Maddaya Township of Mandalay Region on Dec. 13, only a short distance north of Burma’s second largest city Mandalay. They captured 2 junta troops, a small number of weapons, a drone jammer, computers, and three dead junta troops. One PDF soldier was killed. (People's Spring 12/13) Maddaya is well outside the Ta’ang home turf, showing that the ethnic armies’ goals go beyond just liberating their own territories to eradicating the illegal regime everywhere.
The Brotherhood Alliance – Ta’ang, Kokang, and Arakan Armies, now say they have taken over 422 junta camps and 7 cities in northern Shan and Arakan states, with more advances daily. Of those, 142 camps are in Arakan State and Paletwa Township. Intense fighting continues for control of key China border towns like Laukkai, Muse, and 105 Mile. (Khit Thit Media 12/15)
Karenni-------------------
In the battle of Loikaw, Karenni forces captured the junta state police barracks in the center of town on Dec. 10. Inside they seized many police motorcycles and buses, which can now be used for the legitimate Karenni State Police force of the Revolutionary administration. Over 30 junta troops were killed, more than 60 prisoners were taken and 200 weapons confiscated. Six Karenni soldiers died also. (Khit Thit Media 12/10, DVB English 12/13) There are still 2 more fortified junta positions holding out in Loikaw including the state government building and the regional military command center, but after a month-long assault, Karenni defense forces are getting closer to liberating their state capital.
Also in Loikaw junta mortar shelling ignited a fire that swept through the city marketplace the night of Dec. 9, reducing shops and stalls to ashes. Nobody was there at the time. A junta police officer was caught by Karenni forces while selling illicit drugs in the city. (Khit Thit Media 12/15)
Arakan------------------
After capturing the strategic junta command center at Dayon in Paletwa Township of southern Chin State on Dec. 4, the Arakan Army went on to capture its twin base at Hnongbu on Dec. 10, following a 27-day siege. A senior junta officer was killed. The junta was unable to reinforce the base, only defend it with airstrikes, but the AA chipped away at it for 4 weeks until it fell. This leaves the junta without any organizational structure along the Bangladesh border in southern Chin State. (Khit Thit Media 12/12)
The AA went on to attack other junta bases in Ann and Myauk Oo Townships of Arakan State. Those battles are still ongoing. (People's Spring 12/13)
Kawthoolei--------------------
In Kler Lwi Htoo District the Karen army and PDFs attacked and occupied a police barracks at Nyaungpinthah and a military outpost at Kanyukwin in Moo Township on Dec. 13, killing 37 troops and capturing a large amount of weapons and ammunition. This is only 2 hours from the military capital Naypyitaw by car. A Karen soldier was killed and 3 were wounded. The junta sent helicopter gunships. (Khit Thit Media 12/13)
Karen army Brigade 3 and the BPLA PDF destroyed a camp that junta forces had abandoned in Saw Ti Township (Shwejin) on Dec. 10, in the same general area where they captured Moo town on Dec. 4. They handed out the stocks and documents found in the camp to local citizens. (KNU via Mekong News 12/12) However, Karen-led forces retreated from the Moo bridge camp, which junta troops then re-occupied.
The Asia Highway between Kaw T’Ree and Myawaddy is under the control of the Karen arm Black Panther column. (People's Spring 12/11) This is the main trade artery between Burma and Thailand. Fighting continues in Kaw T’Ree town, where jet bombing has destroyed hundreds of homes and driven out the entire population. Looters are invading homes vacated by refugees from the bombing. (Than Lwin Times 12/13)
Video of surrendering Burmese troops being humanely taken into custody during the liberation of Moo town in Kawthoolei's Kler Lwi Htoo District. (National Unity Government Ministry of Defense)
A garrison of about 100 junta troops posted in Kyaw Hta (Kyaikdon), Dooplaya District is now hiding outside of its camp due to daily bombardment with drones and mortars by the Karen army. Some residents of the town have also fled due to expectation of an imminent attack by Karen forces to liberate it. (Karen Information Center 12/9)
The National Unity Government Deputy Minister of Defense Col. Naing Kaung Ywut put in an appearance with the Karen army Brigade 6 and PDFs at a camp in Win Ye Township of Dooplaya District on Dec. 13. (People's Spring 12/14) The NUG is sometimes criticized by Revolutionary forces for being aloof from the action, so visits to the troops like this are intended to bring them together.
Kachin------------------
The Kachin army, ABDSF, and local PDFs liberated the town of Mawlu in Indaw Township on the Kachin State border, northern Sagaing Region, following a 6-hour battle on Dec. 13. They killed 17 junta troops and captured 7 more along with weapons. (Mandalay Free Press 12/13)
On Dec. 15 the Kachin army attacked and captured 2 junta camps simultaneously in Waingmaw Township south of the state capital Myitkyina, capturing 15 junta troops alive. The junta fired mortars at the liberated Kachin cities of Laiza and Laijayan. (The 74 Media, Kachin News Group 12/15)
Chin------------------
At least 10 junta soldiers and police defected to the Chin defense forces in Paletwa Township of Chin State during the past week. (People's Spring 12/11) The Chin continue to press forward in Mindat and Hakha towns, picking of junta troops individually.
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
PDFs captured a junta camp at Aung Zay in Tamu Township along the Indian border in Sagaing Region on Dec. 12, seizing a number of weapons and a vehicle. (NUG via Mandalay Free Press 12/12) The junta has already lost a number of positions along the Indian border in Sagaing and Chin State.
A PDF in Khin Oo Township of Sagaing Region drone-bombed junta troops who were stealing and harvesting crops of farmers on Dec. 14. (People's Spring 12/15)
There has been media attention lately on the communist People’s Liberation Army, a rebel force which is active in Shan State and Kawthoolei Beit-Tavoy District, among other places. Mizzima and Frontier Myanmar have carried stories about the PLA. Its current version is small, operating under the auspices of Ta’ang, Karen, and other powerful ethnic armies. It is a revival of the former Beijing-backed communist insurgency of the 1950s to the 1980s, but this time it is not believed to have foreign support, and is led by a few veterans from the old times with some young volunteers.
Urban warfare------------------
Urban guerrillas bombed the police barracks in Shwepyitha Township twice on the night of Dec. 13. There was gunfire in Myangone and South and North Okalappa Townships of Yangon as well as an explosion in Thaketa on the night of Dec. 9. An explosion the next night targeted a junta office in Hlaingthaya Township. On Dec. 13 two explosions happened in Dagon Myothit Township targeting a karaoke bar frequented by junta military personnel. Bombs went off in North Dagon and North Okalappa Townships on Dec. 14, explosions happened in 10 Yangon townships the night of Dec. 15 killing 1 person, and another bomb exploded at the immigration office in South Dagon Township on Dec. 16. (Khit Thit Media 12/10-16)
Update on the Dec. 5 tire burning protest in Tamwe Township of Yangon: Troops shot 5 protesters to death, not 2, and 15 were kidnapped. (The Irrawaddy B 12/9)
The junta is constructing defenses around Yangon in anticipation of imminent assaults by Revolution forces. It issued eviction notices to 20,000 households in Hmawbi Township, north of the city, claiming falsely that the land belongs to the military. Hmawbi is one of the places where the junta intends to stage a defense of the city. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 12/13)
Junta decline------------------
A junta commander at a camp in Paletwa, Chin State has banned military family members from leaving the camp since November when the Arakan Army began attacking bases. The military is using its own civilians as human
shields. (Zalen 12/9)
After the junta began sending prisoners to fight on the front lines last week, already 9 of them fled. They were recaptured later, but the incident will probably not be unique, and shows the level of desperation of the junta for warm bodies to replace battlefield losses. (Tanintharyi Times 12/13)
Over 200 people from Pyu Saw Htee terrorist camps in Gangaw Township of Magway Region have fled to PDF-controlled areas since Dec. 11. They are fleeing due to security and livelihood worries, since the PDFs have the terrorist camps surrounded and cut off. Terrorists remaining in the camp fired mortars at those who fled. (People's Spring 12/14)
Terrorism--------------------
Junta troops attempting to re-enter Kampat town in western Sagaing Region fired on an orphanage on Dec. 10, killing 4 children between the ages of 5 and 10, then taking the other 36 children hostage to use as human shields. PDF groups later rescued those 36 survivors. (People's Spring 12/11)
A jet dropped a 500 pound bomb on the home of an NUG justice ministry official in Palay Township of Sagaing Region on Dec. 11, killing him and 3 women and a 1-year-old baby. A dalan is suspected of informing the junta of the justice official’s residence. (Myaelatt Athan 12/12)
Another airstrike hit an education festival full of students in a liberated area of Kani Township in Sagaing Region on Dec. 14. A helicopter gunship arrived and began strafing the area. The festival attendees all managed to reach safety. (People's Spring 12/14)
The junta is using airstrikes and shelling indiscriminately now, bombing both battle sites and unrelated civilian areas where there is no fighting, according to the Brotherhood Alliance. Air power is the last tool the regime has left in its war against the country’s population. (The Irrawaddy E 12/14) As in the days of the village destruction campaign, the objective of the air terror campaign seems to be maximizing suffering and insecurity rather than any military objective.
The junta maintains a blockade of food and medicines going to Arakan State, which is leading to an intentional hunger and health crisis. It is the regim
e’s response to the Arakan Army’s re-entry into the civil war. (Western News 12/9)
Political and economic-------------------
China once again used its influence with the northern ethnic armies to coerce them into a Dec. 11 meeting with a junta representative in Yunnan Province of southwestern China. And once again nothing came of it. The Brotherhood Alliance announced after the meeting that nothing will dissuade it from eradicating the military junta, contradicting a junta propaganda statement that the talks were “positive” and that there would be follow-up. (Chindwin News Agency 12/13)
The Thai government says it will collaborate with Burma and aid agencies to help war refugees. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 12/10) This marks a shift from Thailand’s policy of denying entry to post-coup refugees whenever possible, limiting aid to them, and sending them back quickly into live fire zones. Some analysts fear this new policy is a way to divert international humanitarian resources to the illegal junta instead of cross-border local aid agencies. The new Thai Prime Minister still wants to collude with the illegal Naypyitaw junta regarding border security, however. (Nikkei Asia 12/13)
In its desperation for cash, the illegal Naypyitaw regime has pillaged the accounts of Shwedagon Pagoda, the nation’s crown jewel religious temple, taking more than US$20 million in hard currency and giving back Myanmar kyats at the rate of 2100 to the dollar, only 60% of the real value. (Khit Thit Media 12/10) This amounts to a theft of $8 million from the religious institution. The junta claims to be the guardian of Burma’s Buddhist identity, but it has shown no hesitation to occupy and bomb temples and monasteries and now rob religious assets.
According to a new UN report on illicit drugs, Myanmar surpassed Afghanistan as the world’s #1 producer of opium after the 2021 attempted coup. The collapse of the national economy due to the junta’s mismanagement has impacted livelihood opportunities, leading many farmers to return to the cultivation of poppies. (Mizzima 12/13) Thai police seized 50 million meth tablets crossing into Kanchanaburi Province in southern Thailand from Burma on Dec. 12. (Bangkok Post via The Irrawaddy B 12/13)
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