Burma coup resistance notes February 17, 2024
New military conscription causes panic & mass flight; junta kidnaps hundreds of youth; liberated town lost; AA sinks navy boats, holds 7 towns.
New military conscription------------------
The junta activated a military draft on Feb. 10 that requires all men age 18-35 and all women age 18-27 to serve 2 years in the junta’s failing army, or more if they have specialized skills. The first reaction was mass anxiety among youth and parents, and outreach for ways to escape. Young people claimed they would rather lose some fingers or shoot their commanders than fight for the junta. This announcement could be a game-changer.
News of the conscription has already begun to stimulate mass flight even from areas untouched by the conflict so far. The draft may actually serve as a recruitment bonanza for the Revolution. Resistance forces are receiving thousands of applications to join.
A day after the military draft announcement, on Feb. 11 junta troops began kidnapping young men traveling between Monywa and Mandalay, yanking them off buses and motorcycles. More than 40 were kidnapped from one checkpoint. A day later, traffic almost disappeared on that road. The same thing happened in Mandalay, traffic largely vanished after junta troops began kidnapping young people. (Khit Thit Media 2/12, 2/13) Hundreds of youths have been kidnapped across the country, and the junta is gathering lists of draft-age young adults. Arrested drug dealers are also sent to army training.
The Thai embassy has been inundated with visa requests since the draft announcement, and hundreds of young adults have been caught crossing the Thai border. (Tanintharyi Times 2/16)
In Bago Region some troops were demanding bribes of 30,000 MMK to allow families to escape the draft.
In some parts of the country travel is being restricted in order to prevent young people from fleeing, and special approval is now required to buy plane and bus tickets. (Khit Thit Media 2/12) The junta threatens that if young people leaeve, family members will be kidnapped and jailed. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 2/17) The junta is demanding lists of all non-striking government staff to send to the military, which could spark mass desertion of civil servants. (Salween Press 2/17)
Arakan-------------------
The Arakan Army went on seizing junta camps. On Feb. 11 it took another border camp in Maungdaw Township and 3 camps in Minbya Township, which yielded hundreds of captured weapons and 2 multiple rocket launchers; 30 troops were killed. The AA is now advancing in Yanbwe and Buthidaung Townships. (People's Spring 2/15)
On Feb. 12 the AA sank a 4th junta navy ship in a coastal river at Minbya Township, which is controlled by the AA. Reports don’t name the weapons used against the ships. (Khit Thit Media 2/13) After the sinking, AA troops rescued junta soldiers from the Kalatan River, including 2 commanders, as shown in a viral video. (Salween Press 2/15)
The AA says it now controls 7 towns: Kyauktaw, Myauk Oo, Minbya, Pauktaw, Myepon, Taungpyoletweh in Maungdaw Township, and Paletwa in southern Chin State. Pauktaw is only about 20 km from the state capital Sittwe. (The Irrawaddy B 2/12) In Kyauktaw and Paletwa, the AA controls the entire townships, as all junta troops have been expelled.
Bangladesh released 330 defeated junta troops who had fled the AA, handing them over to junta officers who traveled to Bangladesh with a ship to retrieve them, many of whom are wounded. (Shwe Phee Myay 2/15)
As the Arakan Army advances rapidly, junta military families are streaming out of Sittwe, and taking up all the seats on the limited flights to Yangon, Naypyitaw, and Mandalay. (Western News 2/11) The junta blew up the bridges leading into Sittwe to delay the AA’s advance. On Feb. 16 it also destroyed the main bridge to Taungkut, which is in southern Arakan State, signifying that the AA is advancing beyond northern and central Arakan. (Khit Thit Media 2/17) A battle is raging in Ma-Ee, which controls a crucial intersection leading to Ramree and Taungkut. (People's Spring 2/17)
Kachin-------------------
The Kachin army liberated Simbo town in Myitkyina Township, about 60 km from the state capital, on Feb. 10. (Ayeyarwaddy Times B 2/11) On Feb. 11 a column of 80 junta troops came out of Hpakant town to try to recapture a village that was liberated by the Kachin army on Feb. 11. The Kachin attacked, and the junta commander was killed along with at least 3 others. The Kachin attacked again the next day when the column returned toward the town. (The 74 Media 2/12)
Karenni-------------------
Karenni defense forces liberated Shadaw town after a month-long siege on Feb. 13. Over 40 of the 80 junta troops there were killed and 29 captured. Helicopters dropped what was supposed to be a battalion but was only 64 troops; the Karenni were able to kill 44 of those, while others fled or surrendered. Thirteen escaped to Shan State. Many weapons were captured. Then jets began raining 500 pound bombs. Only one small junta camp remains in the whole township. (People's Spring 2/13) Over 160 troops and 2 colonels died in their failed attempt to retain Shadaw town. (The Irrawaddy E 2/15)
Kawthoolei-------------------
The Karen army says at least 70 junta troops were killed in the battle of Zayapji in Taw Oo District. Photos show the captured battalion camp and ammunition supplies. Junta bombing has killed more than 100 civilians, and many of the bodies stay where they fell because it is too dangerous to retrieve them. (The Irrawaddy B 2/14)
Also in Taw Oo District, PDFs attacked a junta column of 70 troops that was terrorizing villages in Yetashei Township on Feb. 10, killing 31 of them and wounding others. The survivors then burned civilian houses, shot livestock, and retreated. (Khit Thit Media 2/16)
A Danu PDF steadily drone-bombed 2 junta camps in northern Taw Oo near Yado for 12 days, Feb. 2-13, killing 11 troops there and starting fires that destroyed some buildings. (Local sources 2/16)
The junta abandoned 2 of its camps in Mutraw District on Feb. 10 and 11, because Karen army Brigade 5 had been surrounding and starving them. Troops withdrew from Lei Kalayjo and Julu camps and went to Maw Pu camp. (Khit Thit Media 2/15)
Thailand revoked the residency permission of breakaway Karen warlord Nerdah Mya, who created two armed splinter factions from the Karen army known as the KTLA and the Peace Council, and is accused of massacring 25 Burmese construction workers. (Karen Information Center 2/13)
Pa-O-------------------
Pa-O PNLA forces continue resisting a strenuous junta drive to recapture Sisaing town, or destroy it if they can’t retake it. They report numerous junta casualties, including 8 killed and 8 guns confiscated on Feb. 12 when the enemy retreated. Jets and ground troops are pounding the town with bombs. (People's Spring 2/12)
Kokang-------------------
The new Kokang administration in Theinni in northern Shan State rebuilt a bridge that had been destroyed during fighting, and it was reopened to civilian traffic. Kokang troops are inspecting civilian homes to remove weapons, aiming to prevent lawlessness after the expulsion of junta forces.
Mon-------------------
Some officers of the old-guard New [sic] Mon State Party, which has acted as a lackey of the illegal military regime, have formed a break-away faction calling itself the New Mon State Party (Anti-dictatorship), pledging to begin fighting the junta. (Myanmar Now 2/14) Several younger ethnic Mon organizations have actively fought the regime since the beginning.
People’s Defense Forces (PDFs)-----------------
After a 2-week assault with close to 1,000 troops, the junta was sadly able to recapture Kawlin town in northern Sagaing Region, which had been liberated for 3 months since November 2023. The PDFs held out tenaciously but were forced out of the town on Feb. 14. The troops then began burning and destroying the town. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 2/14) PDFs apparently returned to the town on Feb. 16 because there was renewed fighting. (The 74 Media 2/16) This is the second town that Revolution forces have lost, after the Kachin lost Momeik on Jan. 18. While any losses are likely temporary, they prove that the dwindling junta forces can still concentrate themselves for an effective counter-attack. The Revolution is still taking more towns every week, so the temporary loss of two won’t hinder its progress.
A similar junta attempt to recapture Shwe Pyi Aye town in Homalin Township failed when PDFs were able to repulse junta troops and push them back out on Feb. 4. (Kachin News Group 2/14)
An ethnic Kuki militia and allied PDFs captured a junta camp in Tamu Township on Feb. 9. Six junta troops were killed. Aircraft then bombed the site, injuring 3 civilians. (Khit Thit Media 2/11) The junta tried to send a vehicle with reinforcements and weapons from Homalin, but National Unity Government troops intercepted it on Feb. 10, killing 4 troops and capturing rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, and various calibers of ammunition. (Mandalay Free Press 2/14)
Two PDFs attacked 2 junta camps in the Yoma Mountains of Okpo Township, Bago Region on Feb. 11, killing 15 in one of the camps and capturing a wounded officer who later died. A PDF soldier was also killed. The PDFs were able to destroy one of the camps but couldn’t get into the other one, so casualties for that camp aren’t known. (People's Spring 2/12)
PDFs in Gangaw Township of Magway Region are blockading the entry of food into Htilin town, because most residents have fled and the only people there are junta troops, Pyu Saw Htee terrorists, and junta supporters. When they run low on food, they raid surrounding villages, but the PDFs want to enforce the blockade and starve them out. (Mizzima 2/12)
Also in Magway Region, PDFs fired missiles into the printing factory where bank notes (currency) are produced, on Feb. 13, and shot up the entrance guard gate at one of the junta’s weapons factories. (People's Spring 2/16
A soldier from an Irrawaddy Region PDF was shot in the leg by junta troops and captured. They then forced him to call other PDF members, and caught at least 7 of them, plus family members. (Ayeyarwaddy Times 2/15) Irrawaddy PDFs have done very little fighting, and that inexperience may be a factor in this PDF’s vulnerability to this type of junta treachery.
Terrorism--------------------
Junta troops who are losing the war in Arakan State kidnapped 9 civilians from 3 townships, including a journalist and a musician, and tortured and then shot them dead. They threw the bodies into a bomb crater and buried them. (Than Lwin Khet News 2/12)
A woman has been arrested by Magway PDFs in connection with the gruesome torture-murder by fire of 2 PDF soldiers on video last November. She is a member of a pro-junta political party. (People's Spring 2/11)
Junta troops fired on and sank a boat used by villagers to flee across the Chindwin River from a terrorist attack in Butalin Township on Feb. 12. Civil defense forces from Kani Township then came to the rescue, preventing any drowning. (People's Spring 2/12)
A woman in Mandalay responded to the two PDF fighters in Magway Region being tortured and burned to death by saying on social media that she prayed they would not be reincarnated again “in this tormented country.” Junta police then abducted her and beat and tortured her. (Myanmar Now 2/13)
The same Pyu Saw Htee terrorists in Gangaw Township of Magway Region who tortured and burned 2 captured PDF soldiers to death in November shot 10 villagers dead on Feb. 14, put PDF uniforms on them, and dumped their bodies by the roadside. (Khit Thit Media 2/15)
-စီၤ ထံဆၢ
Thank you for your excellent reporting of this tragic war.
We continue praying for the protection of the people and those fighting for their freedom.