Hundreds of villagers have fled been forced to flee Shan State’s Muse Township as the junta conducts shelling in the area amid clashes with the TNLA.

The civilian foreign minister, Daw Zin Mar Aung, says the international community can bankrupt the regime and ground its fighter jets.

Prime minister of parallel civilian government urges unity as uprising to topple junta gains momentum.

Two of four detainees in Sagaing Region whose death sentences were announced on pro-junta Telegram channels are missing and feared dead.

Soaring prices coupled with rising unemployment leave more and more families wondering where their next meal is coming from.

Female former political prisoners told The Irrawaddy of their traumatic experiences while locked up, and of their determination to see all political inmates freed.

The Irrawaddy’s latest roundup includes incidents in Chin and Shan states and Magwe and Sagaing regions.

Troops from Light Infantry Battalion 361 stole property, torched homes and killed people, said locals, adding that heavy rain has worsened displaced residents’ plight.

The economic crisis was caused by the coup, economist explains. Not imported cooking oil.

Fighting between the Ta'ang National Liberation Army and regime troops near the border in northern Shan State broke out last weekend.

Junta sends in fighter jets to hang on to strategic frontline bases during 10-hour battle for Thantlang.

Junta’s latest effort to control soaring food inflation suffers pushback from wholesalers.

Military regime dismisses accusations of ethnic cleansing, while parallel civilian government pledges safe return and justice for ethnic minority.  

Their company lied to authorities in Norway about the intended user, then violated Singapore export laws by shipping the system to Myanmar, the Straits Times reported.

With the bloc’s future looking shaky due to its inability to handle the Myanmar crisis, China is securing its place as the dominant power in the region.

The Ta'ang National Liberation Army says junta forces are repeatedly invading its territory in northern Shan State.

The Karen National Union and its allies say regime troops are on the retreat in Bago Region, leaving Naypyitaw vulnerable.

Indiscriminate shelling sparks another exodus from villages in Ye-U Township.

High-profile crimes against civilians committed by groups fighting the junta are proving a headache for the civilian National Unity Government. 

Junta arson attack in Yesagyo Township was reportedly led by notorious pro-regime militia leader Nga Lin.

First free-trade zones will be built at Muse as part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor.

In the first of a two-part series, The Irrawaddy looks at the key roles played by the children of the late Aung Thaung in the current regime and its allied businesses.

The junta ordered the country's Charge d'Affaires in Yangon to leave by September 1 as his government engaged with the shadow government of Myanmar.

Column of 70 troops accused of arresting over 100 people for use as human shields on Friday night as tension mounts with KIA.… Read the rest

Myanmar’s 78-year-old military has deteriorated rapidly since it staged a coup in February 2021, suffering daily losses in nationwide attacks by People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) and powerful ethnic armed organizations. The junta never reveals casualty figures, while revolutionary groups release claims of the number of junta and resistance troops killed in specific clashes. The latter cannot be verified and have been frequently labeled “exaggerated.” However, a recent leaked military report dated August 1, 2023, may provide more insight. It was sent by Military Light Infantry Battalion 114—based in Shan State—to the top level of the military. It said only 132 troops were left in the battalion, despite a requirement that it have at least 857 troops to meet the requirement to be classified as a battalion according to the military’s structure. In another leaked document—an instruction letter from the junta-run Shan State government to its district general administration departments in the state—the state’s security and border affairs minister Colonel Sein Win instructed the departments to provide lists of all civil servants except police. The colonel said in the letter that all government staff would be formed as militia or reserve forces to handle urgent situations for the military regime. To shed light on what is happening inside Myanmar’s notoriously opaque military, The Irrawaddy spoke with a former army captain who joined the civil disobedience movement in June 2021. Htet Myat, who is also helping others soldiers and officers defect, also spoke about the status of the revolution, its forces, the emergence of more pro-junta militias, what the resistance can expect, and what it should do. Is the leaked military report real? It must be real. In the military, every battalion must report lists of soldiers to the upper levels monthly. According to the military structure, there must be 800 troops or above in each battalion. But that was a tale from the past. No military battalion has had that number [of troops] for years. When I joined the military as an officer in 2009 after graduating from the Defense Service Academy, I saw only around 200 troops in each of the most powerful battalions. So, we have to compare it with that 200 troops [figure] when we consider the depletion of the military. In the leaked report, there were a total of 132 troops in the military battalion, of which 70 were on the front line. Only 62 were left at the base of the battalion. According to regulations, only about 40 troops must be left at the base. There must be reasons, including security issues, for the battalion to keep 62 troops at their base while sending only 70 troops to the front line. [caption id=«attachment_127820» align=«aligncenter» width=«832»] Former army captain Htet Myat before he defected from the military to join the civil disobedience movement in June 2021. / Supplied[/caption] Can you explain more about the changes in the military before and after the coup? When I joined the military, there were many battalions that could send at least 120 to 150 troops to the front line. According to the procedure, a battalion must send at least 120 troops to the front line. Around 60 to 80 were left at the base [if the battalion has 200 troops]. Now, this military battalion has only around 132 troops in total. So, we can see the depletion of forces between 2009 and 2023. Now, some battalions that sent 120 troops to the frontline in the past, can send only around 100 to the front line. Some can send only 60 troops. Some battalions have around 100 troops in total. How has the military coup effected the military’s composition? The major causes of the military’s depletion are due to the revolution. The depletion rates are rising at the military after the coup because of deaths, injuries, and defections. One of the main reasons is defection. The defection rate has been very high since the military staged a coup. Many people in the military have realized the real attitude and behavior of the regime after the coup. So, those who have foresight are trying to defect. Another reason causing depletion in the military, is the growing military pressure from revolutionary groups. Over the past years, the military has recruited anyone they could to be soldiers. A lot of people who didn’t want to be soldiers became soldiers. The military has persuaded and recruited a lot of people who had no food and no place to stay, as well as many repeat criminals evading arrest. Many other recruits were threatened and forced by the recruiters to be soldiers. These soldiers are defecting when they face the danger of death. What effect has the coup and the junta’s atrocities had on recruitment at defense services academies and military training schools? There were about 6,000 to 7,000 students at the three academies: Defense Service Academy (DSA), Defense Services Medical Academy and Defense Service Technology Academy.  There were other military training schools for other ranks who wanted to be army officers. There were 3,100 students at Intake 52 of the DSA when I joined it in 2006. Only 2,557 students became officers in 2009 after three years at the DSA. Because there was a large number of DSA students, there were three battalions comprising up to 14 squadrons each. I learned recently that there are only three squadrons in each battalion because there are not many youths who want to join the military. There are only a few hundred students attending military service academies now. So, the military junta has to repeatedly extend the deadline of their invitation for the defense service academies because they haven’t received the targeted numbers of students. This also proves that only a few youths want to join the military. Can you estimate the actual numbers of troops in the military? To be honest, even coup leaders Min Aung Hlaing and Soe Win cannot know the real numbers of soldiers in the military. We can only get estimates. But what I can say with certainty is that the army is definitely weak. But it is not easy to know [exactly how weak]. We also need to count militia members as army forces. We only look at the decreasing numbers of soldiers in the military, but the junta is recruiting more militia forces. [caption id=«attachment_127821» align=«aligncenter» width=«936»] A strategic outpost of the junta and its soldiers seized by the resistance forces led by Karen National Liberation Army in Karen State in 2021. / Karen Information Center[/caption] Why does the junta plan to organize civil servants as reserve or militia forces for the military? We can see how broken the military is because the junta is attempting to recruit more forces by arming government staff. Whenever they arm a soldier with a weapon, they have to supervise that soldier. So, if they train and arm government staff, they will also have more duties to supervise and control them. This will be difficult. I am interested in how the junta will assign armed civil servants. They are using militias as reserve forces of the military. The junta is now organizing more militia forces after permitting civilians to carry arms. One of their ambitions is to have more militia forces outside the military battalions. The military will have an advantage if they can create these militias by using its civil servants. Another reason for organizing reserve militias is to control the movement of resistance groups who are spread out not only in rural areas and forests but also in urban areas. Currently, the resistance groups just need to target the military base and headquarters as most soldiers are there. But, the resistance groups will need to be alert to military supporters and reserve militias in their surroundings after the junta organizes its civil servants as reserve armed forces. The junta will escalate its arrests and attacks on resistance forces with these armed forces. What is your assessment of the ongoing revolution in the country? Our less than three-year-old resistance movement has confronted a massive institution [the military] built up over more than 70 years, but what we have done so far shows how much our revolution has achieved. Our revolutionary side has many weaknesses, including not enough weapons. However, despite this, our revolutionary groups have made a lot of anti-regime progress. Junta personnel used to attempt to demoralize revolutionary forces by challenging us to “attack them and seize a town from their hands” and taunting us with the question “how many towns have your revolution forces occupied?” However, the real question the military should consider is why their more than 70-year-old institution cannot defeat a less than three-year-old armed resistance. It would be shameful for the military regime [to ask this question]. There are many weaknesses on our resistance side. Our revolution has reached a certain point. But it is not because our revolution is very smart, but because the military is systematically deteriorating itself and is so stupid. As we go ahead with our revolution, we need better plans and financial systems. We need good backup systems. The armed revolution is burning money. We will have to calculate which groups can spend more money. We should think carefully about what will come next, and then make plans. If we can prepare for what might happen, the revolution will only get stronger. Currently, every revolution groups still need enough ammunition and weapons while the guys from the military are going to the frontline with a full backpack of ammunition. It could be long time to victory since our revolutionary groups do not have enough ammunition to fight a military with plenty of rounds. But mentally, our revolutionary forces are in better shape than junta troops who are deteriorating a lot mentally. The success or failure of our revolution depends a lot on how good our next steps are. So far, a more than 70-year-old military institution has been unable to beat a less than three-year-old armed rebellion.

Also this week, the junta admitted its fear of drones as People’s Defense Forces rain down destruction from above.

Nearly 500 Myanmar junta soldiers have deserted over the past four months, the shadow National Unity Government's prime minister, Mahn Win Khaing Than, told the NUG’s 28th cabinet meeting recently. More than 50 junta soldiers have defected since early August, and nearly 500 junta soldiers, including a major serving as a deputy battalion commander, defected in the four months from April to July. Desertions have risen as the regime steps up its terror campaign against civilians, violates their rights, and fails to quell revolutionary forces. The shadow civilian government claims that around 15,000 soldiers and police have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) since the February 2021 coup. A police constable guarding the China-backed Letpaduang copper mine in Sagaing Region defected on Thursday.  Dozens of junta soldiers defected recently in Chin, Kayah and Karen states, where fierce clashes are taking place between resistance forces and junta troops. People’s Embrace is among a number of groups set up by military personnel who have joined the CDM and are helping junta soldiers to quit their barracks. Many of the defectors have joined ethnic armed organizations or simply fled by themselves. “The revolution is the cause of desertions. The military has been depleted since the coup by factors including defection, death, leave without absence, and soldiers suffering serious wounds. The number of defections is increasing,” CDM captain Htet Myat told The Irrawaddy. Weakened by desertions, causalties and a recruitment crisis, the military has been forced to relax eligibility criteria for new officers and extend the deadline for applications to the defense services academy. It has also resorted to recruitment scams, posting advertisements on social media designed to mislead job seekers into thinking that the employer is a private company. Meanwhile, junta boss Min Aung Hlaing has sponsored beach holidays for soldiers badly wounded in fighting as part of his retention and propaganda strategy. Battalion commanders have also been told to dine together with soldiers to boost their morale, and troupes of entertainers have been sent to entertain junta forces on the front line. CDM captain Htet Myat said: “The military is conscripting anyone who meets the simple criterion of being human. None of the recruits is there because they want to be a soldier. I mean [the military is recruiting] the homeless and the hungry, and fugitives, and intimidating people into joining the army. So, the recruits are unwilling soldiers and they flee from the risk of death.” The NUG has offered cash rewards of up to one billion kyats for junta soldiers who defect along with their weapons, aircraft and warships, as well as for destroying them. A group named Pyithu Thar Kaung, set up by CDM soldiers and police, also offers cash rewards for defectors who bring weapons with them. The military is suffering chaos with desertions of privates and frequent purging of commanders by Min Aung Hlaing. Meanwhile, resistance forces have begun launching operations in Naypyitaw, the seat of the country’s ruling generals.

More than a dozen pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia members who travelled to Sagaing Region’s Salingyi Township to help junta troops protect Chinese-invested copper mines were arrested by the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) on Thursday, according to the PDFs. The PDFs that form the Union Liberation Front arrested 14 Pyu Saw Htee militia fighters who had been trained by the Southwest Military Command in Ayeyarwady Region’s Thabaung Township. The militia members said they were going to receive additional training when they arrived inside the mining compounds, according to the Union Liberation Front. Three copper mines in the township—Letpadaung, Sabetaung and Kyesintaung—are owned and operated by Chinese company Wanbao and its two subsidiaries, Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd and Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Ltd, in partnership with military-owned Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd. Regime troops based in the mining compounds have killed civilians in nearby villages and torched their houses since soon after the coup, causing thousands of people to frequently flee before, during or after raids. Local resistance groups say troops protecting the mines had called in the Pyu Saw Htee militias for reinforcements and had planned to train them. Myanmar’s regime began recruiting and arming members of pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militias to supplement its forces after the anti-regime resistance movement emerged in response to the February 2021 coup. The Pyu Saw Htee militias, who are recruited at the township level, have been compared to vigilante groups. “The troop levels for the military are quite low. That is why the Pyu Saw Htee militias were being gathered as recruits,” a spokesperson for the Union Liberation Front told The Irrawaddy. He warned Pyu Saw Htee militia members not to come to the Salingyi Township to aid the junta’s atrocities. The arrested militia members were transferred to the township People’s Security Force on Thursday for legal action, the spokesperson said. On August 16, the junta troops killed and mutilated six residents of Yinmabin and Pale townships in Sagaing Region and dumped their corpses under the North Yamar Bridge. Earlier this month, Wanbao seized neighboring farmland and fenced-off farms in old Wethmay Village to the east of the mining compound.

Myanmar Ambassador said words will not stop atrocities. China and Russia decline to sign UN statement.

Myanmar's junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, who also seized power in a coup, exchanged messages on Thursday to mark 75 years of diplomatic ties. The Thai ex-general reaffirmed Thailand's support for Myanmar's pursuit of a peaceful and prosperous democratic federal union. Prayut is set to transfer power to property tycoon Srettha Thavisin, who was selected by the parliament in Bangkok this week. In his message to the junta's foreign minister Than Swe, outgoing Thai foreign minister Don Pramudwinai, reaffirmed Thailand's commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation. Prayut said Min Aung Hlaing sought his help after the 2021 coup. He has also expressed support for Min Aung Hlaing's plan for democratization in Myanmar. As foreign governments condemned the coup and the military's brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters, Thailand attended the Armed Forces Day in Naypyitaw, a month after the coup. The first international trip by then-foreign minister Wunna Maung Lwin, who now sits on the regime's governing body, the State Administration Council, was to Thailand. Last year, the regime and Thailand appointed new ambassadors. While Min Aung Hlaing has ignored ASEAN's peace plan for Myanmar known as the five-point consensus, Don sponsored an informal meeting on Myanmar in June in Pattaya, giving Than Swe, who served as the ambassador to the USA under President Thein Sein's quasi-civilian administration, an opportunity to repeat junta justifications for the 2021 coup and blame the popular revolutionaries for Myanmar's crisis. Don is reportedly the only high-level representative of a foreign government to meet State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. It was claimed that he met the jailed civilian leader in Naypyitaw in July. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was arrested on February 1, 2021, during the coup and jailed on trumped-up charges and the regime has kept her isolated ever since. The Thai government this week imposed jail sentences on seven young Thai people who staged a protest outside Myanmar's Embassy in Bangkok after the 2021 coup.

Protesters gathered in Bangladeshi refugee camps to demand Myanmar's military be held accountable for the 2017 crackdown.

A striking associate professor from Mandalay, a retired ophthalmologist and another civilian were arrested in an eye clinic raid.

The international community, particularly neighboring countries, must be equally clear that the regime will not be allowed to act with impunity.

More than 200 rights and civil society organizations including Justice for Myanmar (JFM) have jointly called on Singapore’s government to take concrete action to block the Myanmar junta’s access to arms, dual-use goods, technology and funds, according to JFM on Tuesday. The move is in response to the island-state’s role as a major procurer of spare parts, raw materials, and manufacturing equipment for the Myanmar military’s weapons factories since the coup. UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews said in his report “Death Trade”, released in mid-May, that at least 138 Singapore-based firms have served as intermediaries in shipping US$ 254 million worth of arms and related goods to the military junta between February 2021 and December 2023. Also, Singapore banks have been used extensively by arms dealers operating within and outside the city-state. In their open letter to Singapore’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, the civil society groups asked the Singapore government to expedite and publicize investigations into firms involved in and enabling the transfer of arms and dual-use goods, as well as technology transferred, transited, shipped and brokered through Singapore to the Myanmar military. The island government is also urged to introduce sanctions to prevent the direct and indirect transfer of arms, related materials and technology to the junta. The civil society organizations (CSOs) also urged targeted sanctions to block the junta’s access to Singapore’s financial system. Their letter pointed out that while Singapore continues to call for the immediate cessation of violence under ASEAN’s peace plan, the involvement of Singapore-based businesses and financial systems in transferring weapons and dual-use goods to the military regime directly undermines ASEAN’s credibility. “We CSOs strongly urge you to set a precedent for the region by taking robust and tangible actions to stop Singapore businesses and financial institutions from enabling and being complicit in the junta’s ongoing atrocities,” read the letter to the foreign minister. Speaking at a UN meeting on May 17, Special Rapporteur Andrews said: “If the Singapore government were to stop all shipments and facilitation of arms and associated materials to the Myanmar military from its jurisdiction, the impact on the junta’s ability to commit war crimes would be significantly disrupted.” In the face of daily resistance attacks, the military regime has continued to commit atrocities across the country. These include arbitrary killings of civilian and resistance members, using civilian detainees as human shields, burning people alive, looting and torching houses, shelling and airstrikes against civilian targets, and acts of sexual violence. As of August 23, around 4,000 people had been killed by the junta while another 24,410 people including elected government leaders have been arrested or detained since the coup, said the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors arrests and deaths. Fellow independent research group Data for Myanmar said the military junta and its affiliated militia had burned down approximately 74,874 civilian houses and infrastructure during anti-resistance operations across the country as of July 31.

Two businesspeople and three companies, including two based in Singapore, added to sanctions list.