The junta is ‘advancing’ with the rebels’ tactics

Last Updated on January 10, 2025 6:48 am

The Myanmar junta is ‘advancing’ on the battlefield by using the rebels’ tactics. The ruling party is launching mortar and controlled artillery attacks to defeat them.

The rebel group has been in a lot of trouble due to drone attacks, built with the help of China and Russia. Earlier, the country’s rebel groups had defeated the junta on the battlefield using these modern but cheap weapons. This information came to light in an AFP report on Thursday.

A Myanmar military officer fighting on the frontline, who did not want to be named, said, “We have suffered a lot of losses due to our technical weakness. We have lost many bases due to bombing from drones.”

The official also said, “The rebels used to use jammers along with drones. As a result, the level of losses would have increased even more since our communications were disrupted or the enemy’s presence could not be detected. This time we are also using drones and jammers.”

Myanmar has been in a serious unstable situation since the military seized power in the country in 2021. The junta government has been on the defensive for months in the nearly four-year conflict. They have lost control of large parts of the country to the rebels.

The main influence behind this was the drones in the hands of the rebels. These drones, manufactured in China, were collected for agricultural or other civilian purposes. Later, they were taken to their camps and bombs were attached to them. This time, the junta is using that drone method again. Their attack was in one such conflict-ridden village, Moboye. There, the junta forces launched a drone attack on a rebel vehicle.

As soon as the vehicle carrying the rebels stopped outside a house, an explosive was dropped from the drone that had been following them for a long time. The Kayan National Army (KNA), an anti-junta group, was patrolling Moboye under the cover of morning fog.

But as the sky began to clear, they became helpless in front of the new weapons of the Myanmar army. The anti-junta forces took refuge in the jungle to escape the attack. With each explosion, the wrinkles on their foreheads seemed to deepen. A KNA commander, or Kon, told AFP that the junta’s tactics were different before. They would send infantry soldiers to reconnoiter the area before attacking.

Now they send drones first, and the soldiers come later. The junta’s drones can fly much higher than ordinary civilian drones, at least 1,500 meters. As a result, the KNA is unable to disrupt their communication even with jammers. Kon said that there is no way to escape from the junta except to hide.

Meanwhile, at least 40 people have been killed in a village in western Rakhine state in Myanmar’s junta airstrikes. Another 20 have been injured.

In this incident, Arkan Army (AA) spokesman Khaing Thu Kha said that a military jet bombed Kyauk Ni Mau on Ramri Island at 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday. At that time, fires broke out in various places. About 500 houses were burned in the incident.