Daily attacks hit regime targets in almost every corner of Myanmar in July as People’s .

Armed wings of the Karen National Union (KNU), Myanmar’s oldest ethnic political organization, pushed south, taking control of more territory and threatening the junta’s administrative capital, Naypyitaw.

At the same time, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) continued to hold its ground in the north as regime forces attempted to retake their former bases. Heavy fighting also occurred in northern Shan State, where regime forces faced three ethnic armed groups—the KIA, Ta’ang National Liberation Army and the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army.

Fierce clashes continued to break out in Kayah State and southern Shan State in July as the junta sent reinforcements to attempt to retake a border town seized by resistance groups.

The junta also ran into heavy resistance from armed ethnic Chin groups in July after sending more troops to the western state in an attempt to regain control.

Daily attacks on regime troops and targets also occurred in Magwe, Sagaing and Mandalay regions, where resistance forces escalated their use of improvised drones.

The junta responded to its daily defeats and the loss of territory by engaging in what it is best known for—war crimes.

Three teens were stabbed to death and had their tongues cut out during a predawn raid on July 25 on an office of the All Burma Federation of Student Union in Sagaing Region’s Budalin Township.

Other atrocities included arbitrary murders, massacres, rape and other forms of sexual violence, looting of villages, torching of homes, bombarding civilian targets, and using civilians as human shields.

The escalating conflict and atrocities in July appeared to confirm what several international analysts have been saying since late May. After more than two years of armed revolution, the regime is losing the war and is no longer in control of much of the country.

On Monday, the regime admitted as much by breaching the constitution to extend the State of Emergency for another six months, citing an “extraordinary situation”—resistance against military rule.

Resistance rising in the south

A resistance member conducts security checks on vehicles on a highway in Mon State in July. / SOF

Amid decreasing offensives by junta forces, PDFs and allied KNU forces escalated their attacks in Mon and Karen states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions in July, taking control of more territory in the south.

PDFs and KNU troops have been conducting near-daily security checks on vehicles on the Yangon-Dawei Highway in Mon State since mid-June to cut off the flow of weapons, ammunition and troops to the region. On July 1, the Joint Operation Command office of NUG’s Southern Military Command issued a statement urging people to avoid using highways in Bago Region and Mon State between 6pm and 6am, saying it was escalating attacks on regime targets. Drivers were urged not to use mirrored windows in their vehicles and passengers were urged to allow PDF members to inspect them when traveling on highways during the day.

A week after the statement, Taungoo District PDF Battalion 3501 ambushed a military convoy of 10 vehicles believed to be carrying the junta’s quartermaster-general near the 169-mile point on the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway, destroying two vehicles.

Joint forces of KNU and NUG PDFs have escalated attacks in eastern Bago Region, cutting off the junta’s logistics routes to Karen State.

The attacks are threating the junta just miles from Naypyitaw.

KNU troops and PDFs managed to seize a strategic junta base on Lat Khat Taung Mountain in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township, inflicting heavy losses on junta troops in July. Junta troops have failed to re-take the base despite several attempts to do so.

In response to the growing resistance, junta units conducted indiscriminate artillery shelling on civilian targets in KNU-controlled territory in Mon and Karen states and Bago Region nearly every day in July, forcing about 30,000 residents to flee their homes and injuring dozens more, according to reports from the KNU. At least several civilians were killed during the shelling, the KNU said.

Fierce fighting resumes in Chin State

Fighters of the Chin Defense Force (Kanpetlet) during an operation in Chin State. /CDF (Kanpetlet)

Several days-long clashes with Chin resistance groups and PDFs began in southern Chin State in mid-July when large numbers of regime forces were deployed to reinforce the remaining junta bases and raid resistance areas. More than two dozen regime soldiers were reportedly killed.

Except for a few towns, Chin State remains under the control of resistance forces.

In the second week of July, two days of heavy clashes with Chin resistance forces erupted between Hakha and Thantlang towns as junta forces tried to take the mountaintop town Thantlang, which is controlled by resistance groups. The entire town was incinerated by the junta’s bombardments and arson attacks.

Still, junta troops suffered a defeat and retreated from the mountain. Chin resistance forces lost a strategic hill near Thantlang on July 20, but continued attacking regime targets in Mindat, Tedim and Matupi townships.

Renewed clashes in the north

Kachin Independence Army troops. /The Irrawaddy

Intense fighting occurred almost daily along the Myitkyina-Bhamo Highway in Kachin State in July after the junta deployed massive reinforcements to retake its bases near the headquarters of Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Laiza town on the border with China.

The junta had abandoned the bases near Laiza after the coup, according to the KIA.

The KIA also clashed with regime forces in Kutkai Township in northern Shan State. Fierce fighting between junta troops and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army was also reported in Muse Township in northern Shan State.

Steady resistance attacks three regions

PDF fighters during an anti-regime operation in Magwe Region. /NUG’s Defense Ministry

With daily attacks, ambushes, drone strikes, artillery shelling and hit-and-run raids on junta bases and regime targets, several local resistance groups and PDFs are continuing their revolution against the regime in Magwe, Sagaing and Mandalay regions.

Resistance forces in Magwe and Sagaing have escalated drone strikes on junta bases, police stations and some villages that are bases of regime forces and pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militias.

Improvised mortar rounds and makeshift bombs are increasingly used to attack junta bases, including the headquarters of North West Military command in Monywa, the second-largest city in Sagaing Region.

In retaliation, the junta has inflicted atrocities, including massacres, extrajudicial killings, looting and torching houses, artillery and airstrikes on civilian homes, as well as rapes and other forms of sexual violence.

In June, a total of 374 clashes—including 103 shootouts, 125 resistance raids and 74 resistance land-mine ambushes—were reported in the NUG’s Military Region 1, which comprises Sagaing and Mandalay regions and northern Shan State. According to the NUG, 427 regime troops and 47 resistance fighters were killed in the clashes.

The junta responded with 26 airstrikes.

Fierce clashes in Kayah State

Karenni Nationalities Defense Forces troops near a bombed junta truck in Kayah State in May last year. /Karenni’s Voice

A series of intense clashes broke out in Hpasawng Township in southern Kayah State in July as the junta sent a large number of troops to retake its military bases and Mase Town on the Thai border, which were under the control of Karenni resistance groups.

Since July 21, combined resistance groups have been fighting to block 400 junta troops—supported by shelling and airstrikes—from reaching Mase Town.

Karenni resistance groups attacked and seized six junta bases and Mase Town in June. During the clashes, several dozen regime forces surrendered to the resistance groups and some battalions of the Karenni National People’s Liberation Front—which are part of the junta’s border guard forces—switched sides and joined the resistance.

Several days of clashes occurred near Loikaw Town in late July when resistance groups attacked junta troops guarding the Loikaw-Mobye Highway. Two military convoys of 80 trucks were attacked on the highway.

An eight-day long battle occurred in neighboring Pekon Township in southern Shan State. Thirteen regime troops were reportedly killed from July 21 to 28 when Karenni and other resistance groups attacked a military unit in the township.

Fighting is likely to intensify in Kayah State as the junta reportedly deployed about 6,000 troops to attempt to regain control of territory in the resistance stronghold.

As of June 30, a total of 729 clashes between resistance groups and the regime broke out in Kayah state. The post-coup fighting took the lives of 2,177 junta soldiers and 305 resistance fighters, according to the Progressive Karenni People Force, an activist group that monitors the war and regime atrocities.

The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the numbers.

The junta responded with 527 airstrikes, killing 365 civilians. More than 1,640 houses, including religious buildings, have been destroyed by junta bombs and arson attacks in the state since the coup.

Junta in ‘State of Emergency’

Faced with daily, nationwide resistance, including relentless attacks, coup-leader Senior General Min Aung Hlaing violated the constitution to extend the State of Emergency on Monday, prolonging military rule for another six months.

The accused war criminal told a cabinet meeting two weeks ago that “much remains to be done to restore stability and rule of law across the union.” He was referring to the resistance against him and his administration.

Myanmar’s dictator also commanded his cabinet to increase military operations in three major resistance strongholds: Sagaing Region and Kayah and Chin states. As a result, fighting will escalate this month. War crimes will too.

Nayt Thit

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