Myanmar conflict: The junta is facing a face-off in Rakhine too
Last Updated on September 9, 2024 8:58 am
Fierce conflict is going on in Myanmar. The fight between the junta forces and the insurgents in various states is intensifying. The country’s ruling junta has already fallen into disarray after losing bases and numerous troops. Now in Rakhine, the soldiers are facing each other. After losing several cities in the state, the junta also lost a naval base for the first time.
The Arakan Army (AA), a Rakhine-based anti-junta armed group, captured the naval base last week after a month of fierce fighting. The Irrawaddy media reported this information in a report on Saturday.
The insurgent group, the Arakan Army, said it captured the junta’s Navy SEAL training center near the tourist resort of Ngapali Beach in Thandwe, southern Rakhine state, on Thursday after a month of fierce fighting.
The junta stronghold is officially known as the Central Naval Diving and Salvage Depot (CNDSD), The Irrawaddy said. This is the first naval headquarters of the country to be captured by anti-junta resistance forces. Myanmar’s junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing led the chiefs of the General Staff, Navy and Air Force during a visit to the CNDSD in Maung Shwe Le village in January last year.
The Arakan Army said it launched its operation on August 7 to capture the naval stronghold. At the start of the campaign, they attacked military posts guarding the base in nearby villages. The junta deployed more than 1,200 troops, including troops from other conflict-affected areas, to protect the training headquarters. Naval trainees were also among these deployed troops.
The junta also used naval ships and aircraft to bomb Arakan Army troops around the base, the Arakan Army said.
Then last Friday, the Arakan Army claimed that its forces had killed more than 400 government soldiers and seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition from the base. Navy ships reportedly rescued dead and wounded junta soldiers and took them to the Ayeyarwady region and the Rakhine capital, Sittwe. However, the Arakan Army troops buried the bodies of the government soldiers left at the clash site.
In addition, after the loss of the Thandwe Training Center, shelling of civilian areas controlled by the Arakan Army in the nearby town of Pauktao from the junta bases in Sittyu. This ethnic army said that the houses there were damaged.
In addition, the Arakan Army continued to clash with junta forces in a week-long offensive to capture the town of Mangdu near the Bangladesh border in northern Rakhine.
Incidentally, in February 2021, the military overthrew the government led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup d’état. Army chief General Min Aung Hlaing led the coup. He is also the head of the current military government of Myanmar. Protests started in Myanmar soon after the junta seized power. Since mid-2022, the protests have been led by various anti-junta armed political groups.
After a military coup in Myanmar from October 2023, the rebel ‘Three Brotherhood Alliance’ emerged as a junta. A powerful anti-army operation called ‘Operation-1027’ was started.
A coalition of three rebel groups – the Arakan Army (AA), the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and the Tang National Liberation Army (TNLA) – launched its first offensive in northern Shan State on October 27 last year. At that time the joint operation was named ‘Operation-1027’.
The junta has suffered a lot since then. Thousands of soldiers lost. Several jet fighters, helicopters and tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed. Arms and ammunition have been seized. Military bases and strategic cities have also been captured by the rebels. The junta has lost control.
In addition to the three organizations belonging to the Brotherhood Alliance, Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Karenni Nationalities Defense Force (KNDF), Karenni Army (KA), Kachin Liberation Defense Force (KLDF) and People Defense Force (PDF) also joined the anti-junta coalition.