Three children were injured by a junta drone attack in Kay Hlar village tract in Hpruso Township as fierce fighting continues between junta forces and allied resistance forces in Kayah State, a local rights group said. “Three children aged 10, nine and eight were hit by shrapnel yesterday. One of the children is in critical condition,” said Ko Benya, spokesperson for the Karenni Human Rights Group. The drone attack hit a village far from conflict areas, he added. The junta has escalated shelling and airstrikes on civilian targets in the eastern state, the rights group said. Heavy bombardments are also reported in Demoso and Hpruso townships, where fighting has intensified between junta troops and allied resistance forces in the state. “They’ve just fired six rounds of artillery bombardments just a few minutes ago,” a resident of Demoso told The Irrawaddy. Junta warplanes also conducted an airstrike near Kwaing Ngan Village in Demoso Township, damaging a bridge and a community hall on Wednesday. There were no civilian casualties, local residents said. Schools remain closed in western Demoso and Hpruso townships due to the escalation of shelling and airstrikes by junta forces. “We couldn’t open our school as they [junta forces] deliberately bombed IDP [internally displaced person] camps and residential areas,” a teacher from Hpruso Township said. An IDP camp in Demoso Township was hit by junta airstrikes on July 5, injuring three people— including a child—and damaging a makeshift school. Tension remains high in Hpruso after the junta sent heavy reinforcements in an attempt to control Pyidaungsu Road between Demoso and Hpruso townships. Clashes have intensified near three villages in Hpruso—Daw Ngay Khu, Htee Ka Lu Daw and Htee Paw So—that were seized by junta forces, sources said. Junta forces suffered heavy casualties in three days of clashes with resistance forces in Ngwe Taung Ywar Thit and Htee Thaw Ku villages between August 10 and August 12, according to Karenni Nationalities Defense Force. The KNDF said 71 junta soldiers were killed and three resistance fighters died in the clashes. The Irrawaddy was unable to verify the casualty figures. At least 516 civilians were killed and 196 were detained by junta forces in the state since the February 2021 coup, according to the Progressive Karenni People Force, which monitors junta atrocities in Kayah State. Junta shelling and bombing raids targeting civilians had also destroyed at least 1,639 houses and 39 religious buildings, the group said. An estimated 100,000 people are in urgent need of food and medicine in the state, aid groups say.

  Junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun used a regime press conference on Tuesday to incite hatred between the Bamar and Kachin communities. Some resistance forces in central Myanmar, where ethnic Bamar people comprise the majority of the population, have been trained and armed by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a Kachin ethnic armed organization (EAO), in their fight against the regime following since the 2021 coup. Along with a few other EAOs, the KIA has been fighting the regime while also supporting resistance forces collectively known as the People’s Defense Force (PDF). The KIA is among a number of EAOs that have also rejected the junta’s offer of peace talks. The regime often accuses the KIA of supporting the resistance movement, and this time it attempted to stir up hatred between Kachin and Bamar people. At the press conference, pro-junta media outlets People Media and NP News asked the junta spokesman if the regime has a plan to brand EAOs that have refused peace talks, and which support the parallel National Unity Government and PDFs, as terrorist organizations. In his reply, the junta spokesman said three times that he was staggered by the fact that Bamar people are willing to kill each other with weapons supplied by the KIA. By “Bamar people killing each other” he means the resistance forces fighting the Myanmar military in Sagaing and Magwe regions, the Bamar-majority resistance stronghold. “There are Bamar people who supported a KIA leader’s statement that Sagaing Region is now engulfed in flames after the KIA opened up an arsenal of its brigade closest to Sagaing Region, and that the whole of Myanmar will be thrown into unrest if all the weapons are given [to resistance forces]. Please carefully review this statement,” Zaw Min Tun told the press conference, shifting the blame to the KIA for armed conflicts in Sagaing that were triggered by the military coup. [caption id=«attachment_127715» align=«aligncenter» width=«1132»] Regime spokesperson Major-General Zaw Min Tun during the press conference on Tuesday.[/caption] Media agencies are required to submit their questions to the regime ahead of press conferences. Critics said the junta likely fed the question about EAOs to the two media outlets to create an opportunity to spread hate speech. But in the eyes of the majority of Myanmar people, the fact that ethnic armed organizations are militarily helping Bamar people and attacking the regime as their common enemy shows an unprecedented level of solidarity against the Myanmar military, and that Zaw Min Tun’s incitement will have no impact on the resistance movement. People Media and NP News are known for their racial incitement between ethnic minorities and Buddhist Bamar people, publishing false reports about PDFs killing Buddhist monks, and claiming that EAOs that arm PDFs are not Buddhist. Nearly one hour after the press conference, General Sumlut Gun Maw, vice chair of the KIA’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization, posted on his Facebook page pictures of Kyaw Soe Oo from People Media and Kyaw Myo Min from NP News asking questions at the press conference, with the caption “Noted.” Despite its lamenting of Bamar people killing each other, the regime is indiscriminate in killing its enemies. In October last year, more than 100 ethnic Kachin people were killed when the regime carried out an air raid on a celebratory event held by the KIO in Kachin State’s Hpakant. In Sagaing, the regime has committed massacres and deadly air raids, looting houses and torching houses and farms.

Seven Thai citizens including a student from Thammasat University have been sentenced to jail, some for more than two years, for taking part in a Bangkok protest against the military coup in Myanmar on February 1, 2021. The Thai Criminal Court on Monday ruled that the defendants violated the Emergency Decree and interfered with the operations of authorities. All seven were sentenced to jail and fined, according to Thai news outlet Prachatai, citing Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR). On the day of the coup, Thais and Myanmar nationals protested the military takeover in front of the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok. The protest was dispersed by Royal Thai Police, who used shields and batons and made arrests. On Monday, the Criminal Court sentenced Punnaphat Chantanangkul, a Thammasat University student, to 12 months in jail, reduced to four months and 20 days, for his participation in the protest. A second defendant was sentenced to three years and one month and fined 40,000 baht, reduced to one year, six months and 15 days with a 20,000-baht fine. The other defendants were each sentenced to four years and fined 60,000 baht. Their sentences were cut to two years and 50 days with fines of 30,000 baht. The court suspended the sentences of all defendants except Punnaphat, who requested bail. TLHR later reported that Punnaphat was granted bail after posting 150,000 baht as security. Despite the Myanmar regime's widespread atrocities and killing of least 4,000 opponents since the coup, Thailand has maintained good relations with the junta, citing its vulnerability due to the long land border it shares with Myanmar. Recently, Thailand also hosted an informal ministerial meeting with certain regional countries to pave the way for Myanmar to re-engage with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at the leaders’ level. The regional bloc has banned the junta from taking part in its summits since late 2021 following its failure to honor ASEAN’s peace plan for the country. Last month, the regime allowed Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai to meet ousted detained civilian leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, making him the first international diplomat to do so.

Economist Sean Turnell describes move as ‘perverse’, says junta created ‘Myanmar’s economic catastrophe.’

Indian activists Rini Ralte and Sanjay Valentine Gathia argue that more should be done to help refugees from Myanmar in eastern India.

Four bodies were found in dumped fields outside villages in western Shwebo Township on Tuesday— including one that was beheaded—after junta troops conducted a pre-dawn raid on Chi Par Village on Sunday in the township in Sagaing Region, according to local resistance forces. Two of the victims were Han Zaw Myint, 25, a local resistance member and his cousin, 23, who were arrested by junta forces in Shwebo Town last week, according to the Chi Par Village defense group. “They used the two detainees as human shields and guides. Both detainees were slaughtered and their bodies were found south of the village,” a member of the defense group said. Another two bodies—yet to be identified— were also discovered in Me Taw Village, the source said. “We found a man’s body with gunshot wounds in the field this morning and another beheaded body in the west of the village yesterday, " a villager said. Around 70 junta soldiers raided Chi Par Village on Sunday morning, targeting a village school used as a resistance base. Junta troops seized the school and torched motorcycles and other vehicles, residents said. One village resident was injured during the raid, they said. The resistance stronghold of Shwebo Township has experienced an escalating campaign of terror by junta troops this year, and its residents have been fighting back with handmade weapons. At least seven junta troops were killed in a land-mine ambush on Monday after the raid on Chi Par Village, according to the village defense group. “We ambushed them with mines when they transported rations to Pa Laing [a village controlled by a pro-junta militia] from Chi Par Village on Monday. Seven soldiers were killed by the mine attack,” a resistance fighter said. The Irrawaddy could not verify the casualty figures. Resistance forces said they also exchanged gunfire with junta forces about 30 minutes after the land-mine ambush. Sources said the junta column left Chi Par Village on Tuesday. A local resistance group involved in coordinated land-mine ambush said they need more weapons and ammunition to attack junta forces. “We only have a small number of handmade weapons. For the most part, we cannot engage in direct fighting. We can only use homemade mines to attack them,” a member of the group said. In eastern Shwebo, a vehicle carrying junta troops was also ambushed with land mines on the Shwebo-Kyauk Myaung Road on August 15, killing at least four junta soldiers and injuring one, according to the Shwebo Ranger Defense Force. On August 16, a junta column raided Gway Pin Kone Village, burning down 16 houses, according to residents. Resistance forces also clashed with junta infantry near Thea Kyun Village on the same day, killing at least two junta troops, according to Burma Ranger, a resistance group based in eastern Shwebo Township. The Irrawaddy could not verify the casualty figures. One Burma Ranger also died in a land-mine explosion on August 16, according to the group.

Buddhist monks have criticized the junta for arresting a Swiss director and 13 amateur actors including a 12-year-old girl after alleging their movie blasphemes Buddhism. “Don’t Expect Anything” was written and produced by Swiss director Didier Nusbaumer and uploaded to the YouTube channel Isi Dhamma on July 24. The regime vowed to take legal action against 14 people for using ‘offensive and disrespectful language’ in the movie, saying they had insulted the virtue of Buddhist monks. The junta also alleged that the film harmed Myanmar’s culture and Buddhist traditions. Buddhist monks opposed to military rule were quick to counter the allegations, pointing out that Buddhism encourages critical thinking and rejects blind acceptance of the Buddha’s teachings. They also accused the regime and its supporters of misusing Buddhism. The 75-minute film shows the 12-year-old protagonist questioning certain Buddhist customs and criticizing monks who do not follow rules. The military regime alleged the character uses “rude and insulting words against the culture and tradition of Buddhists by harming the good virtues of monks.” However, Buddhist monk U Kovida from Mandalay said he perceived no insult in the character’s statements and questions. “In my view, [the arrests] are just oppression on the pretext of [the response to] insulting Buddhism. Dictators have no faith in religion, they only have faith in power,” said the monk. In a statement released last week, the junta said: “Despite the main characters being Buddhists themselves, their behaviors and words were reckless to the point of insulting the dignity and morality of Buddhist monks.” [caption id=«attachment_127695» align=«aligncenter» width=«1059»] Swiss director Didier Nusbaumer and amateur actors arrested by the military regime on allegations of blaspheming Buddhism. / Junta Website[/caption] It added that harsh action will be taken against them in line with law. Fellow Buddhist monk U Min Thonenya said: “Buddhism encourages critical thinking. There is the Kesamutti Sutta, which discourages blind faith. The statements made in the Kesamutti Sutta could not have been more explicit. All Buddhist monks know that this is the essence of Buddhism. [The regime] is itself harming Buddhism by ordering others to believe in Buddhism on the threat of imprisonment.” The detained Swiss director holds a meditation visa and had been practicing at Phaung Daw Oo monastic school in Mandalay since 2016. He shares educational videos about Buddhism on the Facebook page “Dhamma Pictures.” Phaung Daw Oo Monastery has asked authorities to limit their action to having the director lectured by the State Sangha Maha Nayaka Committee, the highest-level Buddhist authority in Myanmar. The Swiss Embassy told AFP that it had managed to contact the director in detention. Junta media published photos of only 11 of the 14 detainees and remained silent on the charges they face. The regime, on the other hand, has torched and bombed religious buildings including Buddhist pagodas and temples. It has also arrested and killed Buddhist monks who oppose military rule. Over 60 Buddhist monks have been confirmed killed since the 2021 coup, and dozens more are missing, according to monastic sources. U Kovida said: “In my view, the bombing of religious buildings and Buddhist monasteries by military authorities who have forcibly seized power is a genuine insult to religion. Jailing of Buddhist monks without investigation is a genuine insult to religion.” U Min Thonenya said that Myanmar’s successive military dictators have all been killers who kill civilians including monks and students while disguising themselves as promoters of Buddhism. “No matter how many pagodas they have built, they do so only for show. The Buddha did not preach that [governments] should harm their own citizens, but should improve their well-being. Now, the whole country is in turmoil because of Min Aung Hlaing. Their houses are being torched. This violates the Buddha’s teachings,” said U Min Thonenya. Min Aung Hlaing has overseen numerous war crimes against civilians while portraying himself as a champion of Buddhism in the Buddhist-majority country. The junta chief has consecrated several pagodas at home and abroad and built a colossal marble monument touted as the world’s tallest sitting Buddha statue on the outskirts of Naypyitaw.

Two junta soldiers guarding a China-backed oil and gas pipeline in Magwe Region were killed in a resistance attack on Sunday. Chinland Defense Force-Asho (CDF-Asho) attacked junta troops guarding an off-take station for Sino-Myanmar pipelines near Myelet village in Ngape Township, Magwe at around 5 am on Sunday, said the resistance group. Two junta soldiers including a lieutenant were killed in the attack, CDF-Asho spokesman Salai Yoe Chin told The Irrawaddy. “Our mission was to seize weapons from them. We watched the outpost for a week before conducting the attack. We were able to enter the outpost during the attack. We saw that two soldiers were killed, and we learnt later that they were a lieutenant and a private,” said CDF-Asho spokesman Salai Yoe Chin. There were only five or six junta soldiers in the outpost at the time of attack, the spokesman added. CDF-Asho fighters ran out of ammunition after 30 minutes of fighting and were forced to retreat as junta soldiers from nearby hills arrived. Junta reinforcements from Ngape then beat and arrested ethnic Chin men from Myelet village near the scene of the clash. The village has around 50 households. A bus driver from Ngape said: “The military carried out checks on cars and motorbikes on Ann-Padan road on Sunday morning following the fighting. They did nothing to motorists. But I heard they beat both young and older Myelet villagers who don’t speak Burmese for allegedly supporting the CDF. I also heard two villagers were arrested.” CDF-Asho said they only attacked to seize weapons, and did no damage to the pipelines. The resistance group was formed in January this year by soldiers, police, teachers, and health workers who have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, as well as students and pro-democracy Asho people. The Asho are an ethnic tribe of Chin people native to Magwe, Ayeyarwady and other parts of the country. Construction of the pipelines, which stretch 973 kilometers from Rakhine coast to China’s Yunnan Province through Magwe and Mandalay regions and Shan State, began in 2011. They began operating in July 2013. Resistance attacks on junta troops guarding the pipelines increased following then Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang’s visit to Myanmar in May, the highest-level visit by a Chinese official since the junta overthrew the democratically elected government in February 2021.

Resistance forces in Magwe Region have attacked Myanmar junta troops and camps several times this week. Yaw Defense Force said it attacked a camp near a military equipment factory in Kyaw town on Monday, killing three soldiers and seizing two firearms and ammunition. The group said the camp is about 3km from the factory. Two soldiers were killed and five wounded during a clash near Htan Bone Taw village in Mying Township on Monday, according to the Mying Villages Revolution Front. Around 39 houses in the village were torched by regime troops after the clash. Resistance forces attacked a junta checkpoint at Yay Pyar village in Pauk Township on Tuesday. A police officer was killed and others injured and a firearm and ammunition were seized, the Anonymous Special Task Force in Pauk reported. It was one of the groups that attacked an 80-vehicle junta convoy with mines on the Pauk-Pakokku road on Sunday. Two vehicles were destroyed by resistance mines. The casualties numbers are unknown. No resistance casualties were reported in the attacks. A Yaw Defense Force representative said Magwe Region is largely in resistance hands and groups are conducting regular offensives against regime forces. «The military has become defensive and we are on the offensive. We can continue to attack,» he said.

Food prices have skyrocketed in Tamu town, Sagaing Region, where junta troops and local resistance forces have blockaded roads for the past three months following clashes. Fighting erupted near the village of Pann Thar some seven miles from Tamu town on June 15. Fierce clashes followed in Kempat town in Tamu District on July 23, with the regime conducting bombing raids. Locals say that since the fighting broke out, the two sides have blockaded the Tamu-Kale road, cutting off supplies and sparking a surge in food prices. “Previously, you could buy three eggs for 1,000 kyats. Now the price is 800 kyats per egg,” a Tamu resident told The Irrawaddy. “The price of tomatoes has also soared to 1,500 kyats for four fruits. If things continue like this, we are going to starve to death.” The price of a sack of rice has almost doubled from 80,000 kyats to 150,000 kyats since the blockade. Petrol prices have also increased from 2,500 kyats to 6,000 kyats per liter. And the cost of cooking oil has surged from 8,000 kyats per viss (around 1.8 liters) to 12,000 kyats. The exchange rate is now close to 4,000 kyats per dollar. To make matters worse, the Indian government has closed the border with Tamu following ethnic violence in Manipur between the Meitei and Kuki communities. Another Tamu resident said: “We mainly use Indian goods here. Now, we can’t cross the border to trade, so we have no jobs. Those who can afford it, hire motorbike taxis and bring goods into Tamu.” Motorbikes could be used to travel and buy goods at Bonekkan village, 24 miles from Tamu town, until the second week of August. Cargo trucks and passenger vehicles are not permitted on the road from Tamu to Kale. However, fighting between junta troops and local resistance forces broke out near the village on Aug. 18, cutting the last lifeline for Tamu residents.  The regime also conducted bombing raids around the village during the fighting, forcing locals from Bonekkan and surrounding villages to flee to the Indian border. Military tensions remain high along the Tamu-Kale road and on the Kale-Gangaw road.

Myanmar's regime again violated the military-drafted 2008 Constitution late last month and extended junta rule for six more months. The junta-controlled Central Bank of Myanmar also issued higher denomination 20,000-kyat notes, which led to general price increases and prompted the regime to form a national-level committee to «stabilize commodity prices». Professor Min Min Thaw, who is teaching economics at California State University, recently talked to The Irrawaddy about the economic situation in Myanmar. [caption id=«attachment_127640» align=«aligncenter» width=«480»] Professor Min Min Thaw. / Supplied[/caption] The regime said the 20,000-kyat note would be issued in limited quantities to mark the completion of the giant Buddha statue in Naypyitaw and the birth of a so-called white elephant. The market responded with price hikes and the prices of staples like rice have increased. The regime said the higher denomination note will not cause inflation. But it has been forced to form a committee to stabilize commodity prices. What is your view? Normally, countries issue higher denomination notes for four reasons. The first is hyperinflation. If inflation is so high there is a need to issue notes of higher denominations as existing notes become worthless. Japan and Germany issued higher denomination notes during World War II. But it is not the case in Myanmar. Inflation is high since the 2021 coup, standing between 18 and 22 percent. But it is below hyperinflation [where prices increase by over 50 percent per month]. The second is about exchange rates. Higher denomination notes are also issued when the market exchange rates are over 10,000 times higher than central bank rates. It is again not the case in Myanmar. The market rate and official exchange rate fixed by the central bank are different but the gap is not 10,000 times higher. So this is again not the case. The third is about counterfeit money. When there is a large number of counterfeit notes in circulation, the authorities demonetize them, issue banknotes of high denominations and allow people to exchange them at their full denominal value. Again this is not the case in Myanmar. Counterfeit money is in circulation in Myanmar and people are not having trouble because of it. The fourth is a country badly needs money when it is at war. In the case of Myanmar, the regime gets money from its Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise. And it can also play on US dollars handled by the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank and Myanmar International Commercial Trade Bank. [The two banks handle dollar transactions made between state-owned enterprises and private businesses and overseas markets.] The regime needs more US dollars after it was hit by sanctions. This is why it has issued higher denomination notes. The regime is short of funds to pay government employees. As everyone is aware, Myanmar's economy has been on the decline. Unemployment is high and there is no international investment or tourism. All these contribute to a budgetary crisis and hence the higher denomination note. The regime cited the birth of a white elephant as a reason to issue the notes. [The generals] have performed yadaya since the 1962 coup. The regime needs money and perhaps the new note was also a yadaya. The regime was trying to kill two birds with one stone. You said Myanmar is not yet experiencing hyperinflation but is it likely? The growing trend is toward hyperinflation. Other countries follow International Monetary Fund rules when issuing higher denomination notes to prevent inflation. The value of a new denomination must be fixed and issued within a set timeframe, for example, one or three months. The regime said the 20,000-kyat note would be issued in limited numbers through an exchange process and individuals can obtain a maximum of three by exchanging them with current notes. But it did not specify how much and for how long it would issue the new banknotes. If it issues unlimited amounts of notes for a long time, it can result in hyperinflation. As it does not follow IMF rules and there is no fixed amount and timeframe, businesses and people have responded. Since the 1962 coup, generals do as they please but the people have no trust in them. That's why prices soared within 48 hours of the plan to release new notes being announced and the kyat slumped immediately. What will be the impact of hyperinflation? Myanmar's economy will suffer badly. People, including those who have jobs, will go hungry. If inflation rises rapidly, rich people will get a lot richer. Rich people keep dollars, real estate and gold and their net wealth will not be greatly affected. But middle- and low-income families with fewer assets will see inequality widen with hyperinflation. The World Bank report in 2021 in the aftermath of the coup highlighted a significant increase in numbers of people going hungry and living below the poverty line. The numbers increased in 2022. There won't be foreign investment. There has been no western investment since the 2021 coup. Some ASEAN countries invested in Myanmar last year but this will decline if there is high inflation. Living standards will decline a lot. How do you assess the regime's economic management? For a country to develop, the first thing it needs is stability. The second is a stable exchange rate. Third, there must be infrastructure and fourth low-skilled labor and an educated community. Educated young people refuse to live under military rule. Their parents send them to foreign countries to do whatever they can as there are no jobs. Parents at least feel their children can be alive in foreign countries though they may die in Myanmar. This has resulted in a brain drain. There won't be stability as long as the generals remain in power. The central bank chiefs are incapable. The people and the international community know that. As no one has trust in them, the exchange rate will never be stable. Our country will not develop and create jobs for young people as long as the junta exists. Only when the military returns to barracks and capable people lead the country will international governments trust Myanmar. Myanmar's people and businesses have no trust in the regime. They say one thing and do another and ignore capable people. They never consult anyone. The 20,000-kyat note is a good example. They did it without consideration. People will be in trouble as long as the regime continues.

The property tycoon easily secured the needed votes in both houses, but his party’s decision to join hands with pro-military former foes has been controversial.

Six people were reportedly injured and at least 4,000 residents from 11 villages fled their homes in Phyu Township, Bago Region, due to heavy shelling by Myanmar junta infantry since August 18. Junta forces have been shelling civilian targets since a resistance ambush on a logistics train in Phyu township on Friday, according to the White Peacock Column, which fights for the civilian National Unity Government. «We could feel the explosions and vibration from 8km and children were petrified by the sound,» a villager said. Light Infantry Battalion 439 is based in Kanyutkwin town and two other bases at Gone Te village and Taw Kywe Inn town's monastery, according to resistance forces. «Four people from Nga Toe Khin village sustained injuries on Friday and two women from Let Tet Gyi village were wounded on Saturday by junta bombardment,» said a White Peacock spokesman. Yangon to Mandalay passenger trains were temporarily halted after the mine ambush. Meanwhile, junta troops are on high alert and the security has tightened exile the track is repaired, according to a villager. «They stop us from getting near the railtrack and they have deployed many troops,» a villager said. White Peacock also conducted a drone attack on junta troops based in Hpa Yar La Har on Sunday, killing at least two soldiers and injuring two others, according to the group. Hpa Yar La Har has been occupied by junta forces for several months, according to resistance forces. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the casualty reports. Yaw Khin village was seized by junta troops on Saturday, displacing hundreds of villagers, according to residents. White Peacock said it had evacuated at least 1,000 villagers to safe areas on Sunday.

The military regime has ordered a private hospital in Myanmar’s second-largest city, Mandalay, to shut for three months for employing doctors who were arrested last year for allegedly going on strike from the public health care system. Mingalar Hospital—one of the largest private hospitals in Mandalay—treats cancer patients, pregnant women and newborns, among others. “We are not accepting new patients now,” employees of the hospital said. Current and returning patients are being referred to other hospitals, they added. The hospital has been ordered to shut for three months from August 25 for allegedly employing two specialists from the public healthcare system who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) following the 2021 coup. The employee of the hospital described the move as “retroactive punishment,” explaining: “They ordered the closure of the hospital over the two CDM specialists who were arrested last year. It seems that the punishment was retroactive.” Located in Maha Aungmyay Township, the hospital has about 700 staff, including specialists, surgeons, and nurses. A CDM doctor said the closure was “was not a good sign.” Patients will have trouble receive treatment, the doctor said. A source close to the hospital’s owner said he “has ties to U T Khun Myat, and there won’t be further punishment after the temporary closure.” T Khun Myat served as speaker of Myanmar’s Lower House under the now ousted National League for Democracy government. He continues to serve in the same position under the regime though there is no parliament as the junta cancelled the results of the 2020 general elections. The hospital is a unit of the Kachin National Development and Progress Company (KNDPC), which operates jade mines in Kachin State’s Hpakant Township, and has close ties with Myanmar military, the source added. The hospital’s closure confused him. “There must be a reason behind the closure because the hospital is operated by KNDPC and shareholders who are close to the current regime,” he said. The junta launched an inspection campaign of private hospital and clinics to root out CDB doctors and nurses. Private hospital have been sealed off and their owners for allegedly employing CDM doctors and nurses from the public sector. On December 24 and 25 last year, Dr Win Khaing—a urologist at Nandaw Hospital—and two X-ray technicians from Myodaw Hospital were arrested by the regime. It ordered temporary closures of most popular private hospitals in Mandalay, including Myodaw, Nandaw, Kantkaw, Htet Nay Lin and Sein Pin hospitals of December 31. In May, the junta’s heath ministry revoked the licenses of three more hospitals in Mandalay—Myodaw, Nandaw and Kantkaw—for allegedly violating Private Health Care Services Law. More than 40 striking health workers, including specialists, doctors and nurses, were arrested in October and November last year. Striking nurse Daw Poe Thandar Aung was arrested for allegedly providing medical supplies to People’s Defense Forces. She died in interrogation.

The junta’s new home affairs minister Lieutenant-General Yar Pyae is attending the 17th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime in Labuan Bajo, Indonesia, the current chair of ASEAN. This is Yar Pyae’s second ASEAN visit after being appointed home affairs minister when Min Aung Hlaing’s regime was reshuffled following the extension of emergency rule for six more months. Yar Paye, who was a classmate of deputy junta chief Soe Win in the Defense Services Academy 22nd intake, also attended the 8th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Drug Matters in Vientiane, Laos on August 10. Laos is set to take over the ASEAN chair from Indonesia next month. The 17th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime is being held from August 20-23. ASEAN + 3 (China, Japan and South Korea) meetings will also be held separately. The meeting is being attended by 275 delegates. ASEAN has barred the junta from attending top-level ASEAN summits and foreign ministers meetings after it failed to implement the regional bloc’s peace plan for Myanmar, known as the Five-Point Consensus, which includes an immediate end to violence in the country. Min Aung Hlaing has not only ignored the five-point consensus but also called on ASEAN partners to respect the bloc’s principle of non-interference in members’ domestic affairs. Despite the exclusion of junta representatives from ASEAN Summits, Thailand last month sponsored an informal meeting on Myanmar’s crisis that was attended by junta officials, while outgoing Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai also met with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw. ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR) issued a statement on August 17 urging Indonesia to use the time it has left as chair of ASEAN to leave a lasting legacy for Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement. Two days later, foreign ministers of Thailand and China also called for political solutions to Myanmar’s crisis.

Myanmar’s resistance groups have stepped up attacks near the capital Naypyitaw, directly threatening the military regime. Resistance attacks have been reported within an hour’s drive of the regime’s nerve center. On Sunday, a clash broke out on the border of Myothit Township in Magwe Region and Tatkon Township in Naypyitaw when groups attacked troops on motorbikes traveling to extort money from businesses, said the Oppressed People’s Revolutionary Force that conducted the attack. Four junta soldiers were injured and three motorbikes, arms and ammunition were seized by the resistance group in the north of Naypyitaw. Clashes broke out between junta forces and resistance groups on a mountain in Pyinmana Township, Naypyitaw, about 70km from the city center from August 10 to 14. Clashes started after resistance groups from Pekon Township, southern Shan State and neighboring Thandaunggyi Township in Karen State, led by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the country’s oldest ethnic rebel group, the Karen National Union (KNU), attacked and seized a junta base on the mountain, according to the Northern Thanddaung Defense Force, which took part in the attack. An estimated 50 regime troops and three resistance fighters were killed and the junta conducted airstrikes in response. [caption id=«attachment_127604» align=«aligncenter» width=«1080»] A junta logistics train traveling from Naypyitaw to Yangon, overturned in Phyu Township, 159km to the south of Naypyitaw last Friday. / A pro-junta Telegram channel[/caption] The attacks on regime bases and targets aim to penetrate Naypyitaw, the resistance groups say. On July 7, a special commando unit from the Taungoo District People’s Defense Force under the command of the civilian National Unity Government (NUG), ambushed a military convoy of 10 vehicles reportedly carrying the junta’s quartermaster general, about 50km south of Naypyitaw on the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway. Clashes were also reported in Yedashe Township, Bago Region, about 90km south of the capital. After taking control of ground in Karen and Mon states and Tanintharyi Region, the KNU and NUG say they have been escalating joint operations in Bago Region, which is adjacent to Naypyitaw. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports. The KNU recently claimed the group is conducting more offensives to the west of the Sittaung River in Bago Region. Brigadier General Saw Tamlar Thaw of the KNLA told the media on August 10 that the junta is increasingly focused on defense rather than attack amid growing armed resistance. “The junta is unable to conduct offensives now. Instead, it conducts shelling and airstrikes on civilian targets,” he said. Last Friday, a military logistics train overturned after an ambush in Phyu Township, Bago Region, while traveling from Naypyitaw to Yangon. Resistance groups say they have been attacking military units assigned to provide rail security and junta troops fled after suffering losses in resistance drone strikes and a raid on Saturday, according to the White Peacock Column that conducted the attacks.

Fighting between Myanmar's junta and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) was reported in northern Shan State on Saturday. The TNLA said three clashes broke out in Lashio and Kutkai townships after regime offensives with a clash between Lashio and Theinni towns while two military vehicles were heading to Theinni. Another clash broke out near Man Pan village in Kutkai Township when Light Infantry Battalion 242 attempted to raid a TNLA base, the ethnic minority armed group said. On Saturday afternoon a 21-vehicle convoy traveling from Kutkai to Nam Hpat Kar village was attacked, the TNLA said. «There have been clashes between Kutaki and Nam Hpat Kar since last week. However, the fighting does not last the whole day,» a Kutkai resident told The Irrawaddy. The powerful armed rebel group has been fighting for autonomy for the ethnic Palaung or Ta'ang people in northern Shan State. Myanmar's military attacked a TNLA base near Lashio town with an MI-35 helicopter on August 10 and frequent clashes have since been breaking out across northern Shan State. A clash broke out in Mine Yu village near Kutkai town after a junta offensive. The TNLA said 16 clashes with regime forces were reported in the area between July 23 to August 20, in which 25 regime soldiers were killed while a junta soldier was detained alive. The group said it also seized arms and ammunition.

His promised return from self-exile on Tuesday follows a coalition deal between Pheu Thai, the party headed by his daughter, and establishment-backed candidates.

Regime propaganda article says that military takeovers in both countries were necessary to ‘protect sovereignty’.

The Myanmar regime-controlled Central Bank of Myanmar (CBM) had more than US$6.8 billion in foreign reserves as of March this year in 14 overseas banks in Asia, Europe and the US, according to a CBM document seen by The Irrawaddy. Among the 14, nine Singaporean banks held more than $4.5 billion—more than half of Myanmar’s total foreign reserves. According to the document, Myanmar’s foreign reserves of $6,849,425,159 were held at banks in the US, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand as of March 31. The nine institutions listed as Singapore banks—DBS, UOB, OCBC, SMBC, May Bank (Singapore), Mizuho (Yangon branch), CIMB, MUFG and SCB—held a total of $4,585,980,491, or 67 percent of Myanmar’s total foreign reserves. The second-largest portion was held by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRB NY) in the US (20 percent) while Switzerland’s Bank for International Settlements (BIS) in Basel held 12 percent. Bank of China (BOC) in Hong Kong, May Bank (Malaysia) and Thailand’s Exim Bank held the remaining 1 percent. [caption id=«attachment_127559» align=«aligncenter» width=«1500»] --[/caption] In the document, the CBM claimed that the foreign reserves had remained relatively stable since July 2022, though reserves held at FRB NY were declining due to interest payments to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The CBM said it had around $4.657 billion in hand as of March 31, excluding capital held on behalf of banks, and funds owed to the International Monetary Fund. As a result, it said, “there are FX reserves for only three months vs. imports.” This means the CBM had foreign reserves to cover imports for April, May and June. The status of the bank’s current reserves in hand is unknown as Myanmar is experiencing serious inflation, with the value of the country’s currency, the kyat, deteriorating against the dollar daily. The market exchange rate is now approaching 4,000 kyats to the greenback. With his regime starved of hard currency due to economic mismanagement and international sanctions imposed on it for killing opponents of its rule, the issue of whether Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing still has access to the more than $6 billion in foreign reserves Myanmar keeps in international banks is an important one. [caption id=«attachment_127557» align=«aligncenter» width=«650»] Central Bank of Myanmar Governor Than Than Swe / CBM[/caption] A political analyst told The Irrawaddy that, in theory, the junta can still withdraw the reserves as the CBM is not sanctioned. “But even if there are no sanctions, the banks can decline their customers’ business,” he said. He explained that such a refusal by the banks would have the same effect as sanctions. “Foreign banks now see that doing business with the junta puts their reputations at risk, and if they stop [doing business with the regime], it will impact the junta,” he said. The biggest financial blow to the junta so far came in June, when the US sanctioned two Myanmar state-owned banks—Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB). They primarily function as foreign-currency exchanges and enable the conversion of kyats to US dollars and euros, and the reverse. This month, a Bangladeshi state-owned bank at the center of the country’s trade with Myanmar froze the accounts of MFTB and MICB, which together had at least $1.1 million deposited at the bank. Following the US sanctions on the two Myanmar banks, Singapore’s UOB—known as the offshore bank of choice for Myanmar’s generals—told Myanmar banks early this month that it will cut ties with them by Sept. 1, including Visa and Mastercard transactions by Myanmar individuals and banks, limiting their transactions to those between UOB accounts. However, it’s not clear if UOB has stopped working with the CBM. Of all the banks in Singapore, the CBM seems to view UOB as the most reliable, moving $350 million to UOB from DBS and OCBC at the end of March. The CBM document viewed by The Irrawaddy explains that the reason behind the movement was “to help with liquidity and due to the fact that UOB have been the most ‘cooperative’ in helping CBM through periods of international sanctions.” As of March 31, UOB held $625 million for the CBM. The US has reportedly asked all relevant stakeholders whether it would be best to target the regime-controlled Myanmar Economic Bank (MEB) or the CBM. The US sanctioned the Russian central bank in 2022, freezing its assets held in US financial institutions. The move also means that  financial institutions outside the US that hold dollars for the bank cannot move them. “The US should do it [target the CBM]; it is no good to let them off the hook. Whether the US decides to do it or not, it will have the same effect as imposing sanctions if the private banks stop doing business with the junta,” the analyst said. While the 14 banks were still working with the regime’s CBM as of March 31, some other banks have declined to offer their services to the junta. The CBM document said “the termination of USD outflow by JPM [JP Morgan] has created significant problems for the CBM. USD services stopped on 1 April 2023.” It also said Deutsche Bank had closed its correspondent banking relationship with the CBM, without saying when. The amount of money deposited in JPM and Deutsche Bank is unknown. [caption id=«attachment_127558» align=«aligncenter» width=«1500»] --[/caption] U Tin Tun Naing, the planning, finance and investment minister of Myanmar’s parallel National Unity Government (NUG), told The Irrawaddy that the NUG’s Interim Central Bank of Myanmar is also aware of the junta’s attempts to abuse the country's foreign reserves abroad, and to utilize the Central Bank's accounts, Myanmar Economic Bank, and potentially some of the private banks to subvert sanctions. “We have been engaging the central banks and monetary authorities of key countries to push for stronger action against the SAC’s abuse of the country's finances, and we believe they will realize it's the right thing to do, on behalf of the people of Myanmar,” he said. The SAC, or State Administration Council, is the regime’s governing body. The minister said he was aware that there are also many concerns about the effectiveness of sanctions, and that it was tempting to judge them by past experience in Myanmar, referring to the ineffectiveness of past international sanctions against previous military regimes. But, he said, this is not the right frame in which to view today’s situation, because the current junta is much more dependent on international financial flows and supply chains than its predecessors. He said the impact of sanctions should be measured by every dollar denied to it, which it would otherwise be using to commit violence against an entire country. “We have already seen the significant impact of current sanctions on the junta, creating significant problems in their ability to tap foreign reserves, or move funds around the world to fund their war,” he said.

At least 15 Myanmar junta forces were killed in the last four days as People’s Defense Force groups (PDFs) and some ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) continued to attack regime targets across the country. Incidents were reported in Naypyitaw, Bago, Tanintharyi, Sagaing and Mandalay regions and Shan and Kachin states. The Irrawaddy has collected the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs and EAOs. Some military casualties could not be independently verified. Clash erupts near junta’s administrative capital Naypyitaw [caption id=«attachment_127563» align=«aligncenter» width=«936»] Resistance members of the Oppressed People’s Revolutionary Force / OPRF[/caption] Four regime forces suffered injuries on the border of Magwe Region’s Myo Thit Township and Naypyitaw’s Tatkon Township on Sunday when the Oppressed People’s Revolutionary Force attacked a military unit that was traveling on motorbikes, the resistance group said. The junta troops were attacked while arriving in the area to extort money from local businesses. After the shootout, three military motorbikes and many rounds were seized, said the resistance group. Military unit flees resistance attack in Bago [caption id=«attachment_127564» align=«aligncenter» width=«936»] A junta cargo train that was overturned after a resistance mine ambush on a railway track in Pyuu Township last Friday / Pro-junta telegram channel[/caption] White Peacock Column (WPC) claimed a military unit fled after facing losses in a series of attacks by WPC in Pyuu Township, Bago Region on Friday and Saturday. Last Friday, a military logistics train overturned in a mine ambush between two towns in Pyuu while it was traveling from Naypyitaw to Yangon. On that night, WPC fighters continued to attack a base of regime reinforcements in a village beside the Yangon-Mandalay highway, said the WPC. The junta forces were assigned to perform security for the railway. In the raid, many regime forces were reportedly killed or injured. The resistance groups also used drones to drop 60-mm mortar bombs on another military unit planning to scour the area for resistance forces, while stationed at a monastery in Taw Kywal Inn Town. The bombs killed two soldiers including the head of the unit and injured two others. The military unit fled when the combined resistance forces raided them at the monastery, the resistance group said. The resistance group continued to conduct drone strikes on a military unit stationed in a village in Phyuu on Sunday, killing two more soldiers and injuring two others. Clashes continue in northern Shan [caption id=«attachment_127565» align=«aligncenter» width=«936»] Troops of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army / TNLA[/caption] Three clashes broke out in Lashio and Kutkai townships, northern Shan State on Saturday when the junta conducted offensives against bases of the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), said the ethnic rebel group. In one case, TNLA troops attacked a military convoy of 21 vehicles in Kutkai. A total of 16 clashes between the junta and the TNLA broke out from July 23 to Aug. 20, in which 25 regime forces were killed. Three junta troops killed in Kachin At least three regime forces were killed in Mogaung town, Kachin State on Saturday when a local PDF group attacked a military vehicle in a residential ward, according to reports from Kachin media outlets. After the ambush, pro-junta militias randomly opened fire in the town while a military base shelled a location outside the town. Junta troops killed in daring urban attack in Sagaing  Anti-regime fighters on a truck attack junta troops at very close range in Monywa town on Saturday. / Brother Revolution Force (Monywa) Four regime forces were killed and another escaped in the town of Monywa, Sagaing Region on Saturday when a joint unit of resistance forces conducted a surprise attack on regime forces extorting money from vehicles on a road, according to Brothers Revolution Force (Monywa), which took part in the attack. The resistance video shows anti-regime fighters, who had been secretly positioned in a truck, conducting surprise attacks on regime forces from a distance of less than 3 meters. The resistance groups said they seized only one military weapon, as the soldier who escaped returned fire after taking cover. Junta bases bombed in Sagaing  Resistance forces conduct drone strikes on regime targets in Shwebo Township on Saturday. / Wild Tiger PDF Wild Tiger Local PDF said it and other resistance groups conducted drone strikes using improvised 60-mm bombs on regime bases in the pro-junta village of Tal Thee Taw, a base for pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia groups, in Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region on Saturday night. Details of damages and casualties were unknown. Military units attacked in Sagaing [caption id=«attachment_127566» align=«aligncenter» width=«889»] Military ammunition seized during recent attacks on junta units in Wetlet Township / Black Wolf Army[/caption] Black Wolf Army claimed to have killed three junta soldiers and injured eight others when it and other resistance groups attacked two military units in Wetlet Township, Sagaing Region last Friday and Wednesday. Pro-junta militia group attacked in Sagaing  Combined resistance forces attack a pro-junta militia base in Shwebo Township on Saturday. / SBFA Shwebo Federal Army said it and other resistance groups attacked pro-junta Pyu Saw Htee militia forces in the pro-military village of Thee Lone in Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region at 1 a.m. last Friday. The militia forces were raided while having drinks at a monastery in the village. Militia casualties were unknown. Military unit bombed in Sagaing [caption id=«attachment_127567» align=«aligncenter» width=«936»] The Sagaing-based resistance group Ghost Team Ranger (Myinmu) / GTR MMU[/caption] Many regime forces are believed to have been killed or injured in Sagaing Township, Sagaing Region on Saturday when Ghost Team Ranger (Myinmu) and other resistance groups conducted drone strikes on a junta unit of 100 troops raiding and looting houses in Paukcar Village, said the resistance group. The resistance groups continued to use drones to drop bombs on Nyaung Pin Wun police station in the township on the same day. Military checkpoint ambushed in Tanintharyi A junta soldier was killed in Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region last Friday when resistance snipers ambushed regime forces at a military checkpoint near Phayar Mae Village, reported Dawei Information Center, a local revolutionary media outlet. Junta forces bombed while looting houses in Magwe Resistance drones drop bombs on junta troops looting houses in Myaing Township last Friday. / MRTF The Middle Revolution Task Force said it believed regime forces were killed or injured when it conducted drone strikes on junta troops occupying Kun Taw Village in Myaing Township last Friday. The junta troops were bombed while looting houses in the village.

On August 20, 2011, pre-publication censorship, dubbed as «press kempeitai» in reference to wartime Japan's secret police, was abolished in Myanmar, ending the decades-long requirement for journalists to submit articles to the censorship board before going to print. The press was shackled for nearly five decades by the Printers and Publishers Registration Act which was promulgated in 1962 by the first military dictator General Ne Win after he seized power from the elected government in a coup. Subsequent regimes also kept a tight grip on the press, with the censor board rejecting articles and sometimes ripping up submissions, jailing writers and journalists and permanently barring authors from writing. The draconian censorship was abolished under ex-general Thein Sein's quasi-civilian government, but not in the interests of press freedom. The transitional administration made the move as it sought international recognition as a democratically elected government and to legitimize the military-drafted 2008 Constitution, which was designed to prolong military dominance. Press freedom returned but it was not perfect. Private newspapers emerged for the first time in decades and banned political books reappeared on shelves. But it did not last for long. After military chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power in the 2021 coup, his regime imposed a crackdown on the press, revoking media licenses and jailing journalists. It has also targeted printing and publishing houses.

A Swiss director and 13 amateur actors, including a 12-year-old girl, have been arrested over a movie that junta members accuse of committing blasphemy against Buddhism. “Don’t Expect Anything” was written and produced by Swiss director Didier Nusbaumer and uploaded on the YouTube channel Isi Dhamma on July 24. The movie, which criticizes monks who do not follow the Buddhist precepts, has received over 42,000 views and nearly 1,000 likes since it was posted on YouTube. On its official website, the junta announced that it would take legal action against 14 people for using offensive and disrespectful language in the movie, saying they had insulted the virtue of Buddhist monks. The movie also harms Myanmar’s culture and Buddhist traditions, the junta’s website alleges. A pro-junta Telegram channel reported that 14 people were arrested over the movie on August 8. It displayed photographs of 11 detainees, including the 12-year-old girl. Photographs of the other three detainees were not shown. A freelance videographer condemned the arrest of amateur actors and the director, saying that criticizing monks who violate Buddhist teachings should not be a crime. “These arrests are totally ridiculous and unacceptable,” he said, explaining: “Artists definitely have the right to criticize both political rulers and religious leaders over their misconduct and wrongdoing.” He also accused the junta of performative Buddhism. The arrests are an attempt to portray junta members as defenders of Buddhism, he explained. The junta has arrested dozens of Buddhist monks, and killed and jailed some for actions that displease it. Some senior monks in Myanmar have been widely criticized for supporting a military regime that commits atrocities, including killing monks.  Since the junta announced the arrest of the director and the amateur actors, the film’s popularity has surged. “I really enjoyed the movie because it reflects the current situation in my country to some extent,” one viewer commented.

Women workers bear the brunt of Myanmar’s fall from fashion, as global brands recoil from post-coup labor abuses.

Also this week, junta ministers beat a path to Kunming as China ramped up cooperation.

Two people, including a one-year-old, were killed by junta troops during a Thursday night raid in Khin-U town, Sagaing Region. Around 50 junta troops and police raided homes in Ma Kan Thar ward after an alleged tipoff that resistance fighters were sheltering in the area. «One of the twin brothers and a 50-year-old man were shot dead during the raid,» a resident said. Ma Thidar Oo, the boy's mother, the other twin and another man were reportedly detained by junta troops. Their whereabouts are unknown. «Junta forces came to arrest the children's father but he narrowly escaped when they raided his house,» a resident said. Sources said three neighbors sustained minor injuries during the raid. Pro-junta Telegram channels reported that raid and posted photos of seized weapons, including a sniper rifle, but did not mention the two civilian deaths. The channels said the suspect was a member of the township's security team, which residents denied. The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports. People's security teams or Pa La Pha act as a police service in resistance territory in collaboration with the civilian National Unity Government's Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration. Rural communities in Khin-U Township are also regularly targeted by junta raids and indiscriminate shelling. Four people, including a 10-year-old boy, were injured by indiscriminate shelling on August 9. Junta bombardment also killed five villagers, including a six-year-old boy, in July. A woman was killed and nine people were injured by junta shelling during a raid on Te Su village in June. Around 5,500 houses in 75 villages have reportedly been incinerated by the junta in the township. Hundreds of villagers have been displaced in Khin-U and are taking shelter in monasteries and schools.

The leaders of three of Myanmar's most powerful ethnic rebel groups fighting the junta recently claimed that the regime will be toppled soon as it is losing its multi-front war. The junta is losing ground across the country, except in Rakhine State where the Arakan Army agreed a temporary ceasefire after intense clashes across the state. Now the junta is losing bases in attacks by resistance groups and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the country's oldest revolutionary group Karen Nation Union, and even around the capital, Naypyitaw. The regime is also losing diplomatically with increasing international pressure. In a speech at the 75th anniversary of the Karenni Armed Force Day on Thursday, Major General Aung Myat, head of the Karenni Army (KA), the armed wing of the country's second oldest ethnic rebel group, the Karenni National Progressive Party founded in 1957, said the anti-junta revolutions will win as the Bamar majority has joined the fight for the first time. The Bamar majority did not back resistance to previous regimes in the past. «If we fail this time, we will always struggle as slaves,» the general told the event. Following the 2021 coup, the KA has provided military training to anti-regime activists and helped the formation of the Karen Nationalities Defense Force, which is attacking regime targets across Kayah State and neighboring southern Shan State. In a letter to Karenni's Armed Force Day, the civilian National Unity Government said the decisive period is coming to defeat a regime that is failing militarily, economically, politically and diplomatically. General N'Ban La, chairman of the Kachin Independence Organization, the political wing of the powerful Kachin Independence Army (KIA), said at the 48th Kachin Martyr's Day on August 10 that the junta will fall soon. He warned some organizations not to back a regime in crisis that is fighting the entire nation. The KIA has also provided military training to thousands of anti-regime activities and fighting the junta alongside resistance groups in Kachin State, northern Shan State and Sagaing Region. At a press conference on August 10, Brigadier General Saw Tamlar Thaw, the head of the KNLA, said the junta is changing its military strategy from offensive to defensive amid growing armed resistance. «The regime is unable to conduct offensives. Instead, it conducts artillery and airstrikes on civilian targets and residential areas,» he said. The KNLA's head said it has now managed to conduct more offensives to the west of the Sittaung River in Bago Region. The KNLA has also provided training to several thousand anti-regime activists since the military coup in 2021. It has conducted more offensives alongside resistance groups and taken control of land in Karen and Mon states and Bago and Tanintharyi regions. Recently, the KNLA and resistance groups seized a junta outpost and attacked military units in the mountains to the east of Naypyitaw.

The whereabouts of the owner and teachers of a private school in Mandalay remain unknown since they were arrested and detained on Wednesday for allegedly joining the civil disobedience movement, following a raid on Golden Gate Private High School by junta forces. The school in Maha Aungmyay Township employed about 15 teachers, sources said. Golden Gate is the first private school to be raided and sealed off since junta personnel began investigating private schools in Mandalay on July 27 for links to the civil disobedience movement. Signs of an impending purge emerged in the third week of July when pro-regime Telegram channels called for investigations of private schools in Mandalay to root out teachers from the public system who were on strike to protest the coup. The regime alleged that the school is linked with and has supported the parallel National Unity Government (NUG), its parliamentary wing, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, and its armed wing, the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs). All three are labeled terrorist organizations by the junta. “General Administration Department officials, police and soldiers sealed off the school and office. I heard the school owner and teacher U Myat Kyaw and around 15 teachers were arrested,” a teacher in Mandalay said. “We don’t know their whereabouts,” the source added. Junta personnel began investigating private schools in Mandalay on July 27. An official from Mandalay District said: “We received information that the school employs [striking] teachers, supplies PDFs, and runs online classrooms in cooperation with the NUG. We made surprise checks and found that the information was true. So, we sealed off the school, and filed a lawsuit against the [teachers] in line with law.” Yangon, Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin are home to the majority of private schools in Myanmar. Mandalay Region reportedly has more than 240 private schools with about 140 being in the city. Following the coup, the junta-controlled Education Ministry provided training for teachers at private schools, saying they must have relevant certificates to teach. Educators said the training was intended to bar striking teachers from the public system from working in private schools. The regime has also required private schools to provide lists of their teachers and other staff along with their addresses to ensure striking teachers were not being employed at private schools. Teachers working at NUG-linked schools have been arrested and jailed. In March, the regime arrested Daw Ei Shwe Sin Myint, head of the Mandalay-based Federal School of Aung Myay Thar Zan in Aungmyaythazan Township, along with about 15 teachers aged between 20 and 40. A junta-controlled court in Mandalay handed her a 20-year prison sentence in July. The regime also arrested two students, their father and two teachers at an NUG-linked online school on July 27. “Last year, CDM health staff were targeted. Hospitals and clinics were raided and clinics were sealed off. This year, they are targeting online schools and private schools. CDM schoolteachers need to exercise caution,” a retired teacher said. Teachers who joined the civil disobedience movement following the 2021 coup have opened schools for families that reject the junta’s education system. While most CDM schools are online, students can study at community schools in some areas of Sagaing Region and ethnic-minority states where resistance forces have replaced the junta administration.

At least 25 Myanmar junta forces were killed in the last four days as People’s Defense Force groups (PDFs) and ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) continued their attacks on regime targets across the country. Incidents were reported in Sagaing, Magwe and Tanintharyi regions and Mon, Karen and Kachin states. The Irrawaddy has rounded up the following reports of significant attacks from PDFs and EAOs. Some military casualties could not be independently verified. Military unit bombed in Sagaing  Resistance forces shell regime targets with improvised mortar rounds in Budalin Township on Thursday. / Ninja PDF Local resistance group Ninja PDF said it and five other PDF groups used improvised mortar rounds to bomb a military unit raiding villages in Budalin Township, Sagaing Region on Thursday. Military casualties were unknown. Regime forces, military vehicle ambushed in Sagaing [caption id=«attachment_127491» align=«aligncenter» width=«936»] The entrance to the town of Shwebo in Sagaing Region / CJ[/caption] At least four regime forces were killed in Shwebo Township, Sagaing Region on Tuesday when resistance groups ambushed two military units and a junta logistics vehicle in the township, said Black Wolf Army, which took part in the attacks. First, the combined groups triggered land mines to ambush a military logistics truck leaving a junta base in Shwebo on that afternoon, killing three regime forces and injuring others. The groups also attacked a military unit of 50 troops at the entrance of Shwebo town on the same afternoon, killing a soldier. Another 50 military reinforcements were bombed by resistance drones while heading to the entrance to help the troops being attacked by the PDF groups, said the Black Wolf Army. Junta casualties as a result of the drone strikes were unknown. Convoy transporting junta copper hit by mine in Sagaing  A convoy of trucks transporting copper for the junta face mine ambushes on a road in Sagaing Region. / BHA Brave Heart Army said it and another resistance group triggered heavy land mines in four locations to ambush two convoys of trucks transporting copper from Monywa to Sagaing for the military on Monday and Tuesday. Details of the damage were unknown. Regime patrols killed in ambush in Monywa Resistance members ambush a junta vehicle patrolling in Monywa Township on Monday night. / Naung Yoe PDF  Naung Yoe PDF said it and other resistance groups killed two soldiers and injured others when it ambushed a small vehicle carrying regime forces from close range in Monywa Township, Sagaing Region on Monday night. The regime forces were attempting to patrol unseen in an industrial zone with the vehicle’s headlights turned off. Regime forces bombed in Sagaing [caption id=«attachment_127492» align=«aligncenter» width=«936»] A joint resistance force during a recent ambush of regime targets in Shwebo Township / Shwebo District PDF Battalion 23[/caption] Shwebo District PDF Battalion 23 claimed its forces used three grenades to attack 12 junta troops who had just arrived and gathered at the entrance of a junta-controlled agriculture office in Shwebo town, Sagaing Region on Thursday afternoon. In the attack, two troops were killed and five injured, said the resistance group, citing witnesses. Regime forces killed in resistance attacks in Magwe A drone drops a bomb on regime targets in a vehicle performing security duty on a road in Pakokku Township on Wednesday. / Myaing PDF Myaing PDF said at least six regime troops including two pro-junta militia members were killed and many injured in Pauk and Pakokku townships, Magwe Region on Tuesday and Wednesday as it and other resistance groups conducted ambushes, drone strikes and mine attacks against regime targets. Junta troops killed in resistance attacks in Tanintharyi Resistance forces engage in a clash with a military unit in Dawei Township on Wednesday. / Dawei Collective Column At least three regime forces were killed and two others injured in Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region on Wednesday when fighters of Dawei Collective Column clashed with a military unit of 80 soldiers on a road, the resistance group said. There were no resistance casualties. Military base raided in Karen [caption id=«attachment_127493» align=«aligncenter» width=«936»] The police outpost in Kyainseikgyi Township that was attacked by the KNLA on Tuesday / KNU[/caption] At least four regime forces were killed in Kyainseikgyi Township, Karen State on Tuesday when the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), attacked troops of Military Infantry Battalion 284 stationed at a police outpost in the township, said the KNU. Military checkpoints attacked in Mon [caption id=«attachment_127500» align=«aligncenter» width=«870»] A military checkpoint in Kyaikhto Township, Mon State / CJ[/caption] Black Wolf Column said it coordinated with KNLA troops to attack a military checkpoint in Mokepalin Village in Mon State’s Kyaikhto Township on Wednesday, killing a military sergeant and injuring a police officer. A video shows resistance fighters attacking the military checkpoint. Military convoy attacked in Mon The Defense Ministry of the civilian National Unity Government said three junta troops were killed in Kyaikhto Township, Mon State on Wednesday when combined resistance groups attacked a military convoy of six vehicles near a village. Military flotilla ambushed in Kachin    A military flotilla comes under resistance attack in Shwegu Township, Kachin State on Wednesday. / Myo Hla PDF Regime forces are thought to have been killed or injured in Shwegu Township, Kachin State on Wednesday when Myo Hla People’s Defense Forces used 107-mm rocket bombs to attack a military flotilla of nine vessels traveling on the Irrawaddy River, said the resistance group. Two vessels were hit in the attack.

Myanmar's military regime is raiding and firebombing villages along the Kale-Gangaw road in a bid to control the key route linking Sagaing and Magwe regions. Local People’s Defense Force (PDFs) retaliated on Tuesday by ambushing around 200 junta troops on the road near Thazi village, some three miles from Kale town. The troops were reportedly heading from Kale town to the south of Kale Township. Junta forces responded with air attacks after suffering heavy casualties in the ambush, said locals. [caption id=«attachment_127510» align=«aligncenter» width=«600»] PDF members in Kale / Ranger Kalay Defense Force[/caption] A Kale resident told The Irrawaddy: “Junta troops based in Kale town also fired shells at Thazi village while a junta helicopter strafed the area  around Thazi village for nearly an hour. The fighting is continuing near the village today.” Locals said houses in Thazi village also burned fiercely after being hit, indicating the use of incendiary shells. “Villagers who fled Thazi said around six shells hit their village,” a member of local civil society organization said: “Around 30 adults and children suffered dizziness and vomiting while some passed out after inhaling smoke from shells. Although it was raining, houses burned intensely  after being hit. In normal circumstances, houses should not have burnt like that. Locals said the houses went up in flames as if they were torched with petrol.” A 50-year-old man from Thazi village was killed in the artillery barrage, which also sent residents of Thazi and surrounding villages fleeing into the forest. The strategic Kale-Gangaw road not only links Sagaing and Magwe regions but also leads to Chin State. The regime is trying to gain control over the road in southern Kale, said a member of People’s Authority in Kale Township. “They haven’t attacked southern Kale for nearly a year. But the regime is making large-scale attacks now, so they might be trying to establish a base on the Kale-Gangaw road to gain control over southern Kale,” he told The Irrawaddy. The Chin National Army (CNA) and Chin resistance groups have allied to fight the regime in Chin State, which neighbors Kale Township. Chin resistance groups occupied a junta outpost outside Thantlang town on August 14, capturing two junta soldiers and seizing six weapons, according to Chin National Front spokesman Salai Htet Ni. CNA troops also attacked Infantry Battalion 268 in Falam on August 12, inflicting casualties on junta soldiers and seizing their weapons, said Salai Htet Ni. The regime’s military operations in Karenni (Kayah), Sagaing and Chin states follow the regime’s extension of emergency rule for another six months on July 21, when junta chief Min Aung Hlaing vowed to take necessary action to regain control of areas it has lost to resistance forces, said Salai Htet Ni.

The UN’s refusal to work with the NUG and ethnic armed groups on delivery is one of the main obstacles preventing aid from reaching 1.9 million people. 

Bangladeshi bank freezes US$ 1.1 million in accounts held by regime banks sanctioned by the US as regional banks recoil from Myanmar.  

With his regime starved of hard currency due to economic mismanagement and international sanctions, Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing bemoaned the “weaponization” of the dollar by some countries, which he said posed a threat to the financial systems and security of other nations. In a video message to the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security in the Russian capital on Tuesday, the regime boss discussed what he said was the important role that ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) unity played in the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific region. In the message, he said food security is the most important issue in the region, which is home to over 60 percent of the global population. “Some countries are using the dollar, which is related to financial and security issues, as a weapon in trading the main agro-inputs including fuel and chemical fertilizers,” he said. Min Aung Hlaing didn’t name the affected countries, but it’s understood his comments referred to Myanmar, which has been politically and socially devastated by his coup in 2021. Since the takeover, the country has suffered from shortages of fuel and chemical fertilizers—both of which the country has to import. Making matters worse, the value of the country’s currency, the kyat, against the dollar is deteriorating daily, with the market exchange rate now approaching 4,000 kyats to the greenback. The daily minimum wage in Myanmar is 4,800 kyats. To ease its reliance on the dollar in international transactions, the regime has sought alternatives, using Chinese yuan and Russian rubles in some cases since last year, but this has met with limited success. The biggest blow to the junta so far came in June, when the US sanctioned two Myanmar state-owned banks— Myanma Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanma Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB). They primarily function as foreign-currency exchanges and enable the conversion of kyats to US dollars and euros, and the reverse. Since then, the prices of pharmaceuticals, commodities and fuel have jumped in line with the kyat’s slump against the dollar. Following the US sanctions on the two Myanmar banks, Singapore’s United Overseas Bank (UOB)—known as the offshore bank of choice for Myanmar’s generals—told Myanmar banks early this month that it will cut ties with them by Sept. 1, including Visa and Mastercard transactions by Myanmar individuals and banks, limiting their transactions to those between UOB accounts. The latest clampdown was also seen as a response to US pressure on Singapore to curb offshore banking and financial services for Myanmar’s military regime, as the actions followed a series of visits to Singapore since October 2021 by US State Department Counselor Derek Chollet and senior sanctions coordination officials, who met with officials from the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Karen rebel groups claimed to have killed 15 Myanmar junta soldiers, including a major and captain, and injured 21 others during a clash in Myawaddy Township, Karen State, on Tuesday. The junta tried to retake a Mount Lat Khat Taung outpost, which was seized on July 21 by resistance groups and the Karen National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the country's oldest ethnic rebel group, the Karen National Union (KNU). [caption id=«attachment_127467» align=«aligncenter» width=«640»] A junta soldier killed during an intense clash with resistance forces at Lat Khat Taung mountain in Myawaddy Township on Tuesday. / Cobra Column[/caption] Regime ground troops attacked predawn after the base was shelled and attacked by aircraft, said the Cobra Column, which took part in the fighting. After suffering heavy losses, junta forces retreated. Two resistance fighters, Lin Soe Oo, 22, and Khant Zin Win, 22, were killed and five others injured. A video shows resistance fighters beside their dead comrades and attacking junta troops. Another video showed dead junta soldiers and their weapons. The Cobra Column said it seized a large number of weapons with ammunition. The junta has tried at least 10 times to retake the fortress. A total of 17 soldiers, including two captains, were killed and 34 injured in the attempts, said the KNU. A resistance fighter was killed and eight others were injured. Two regime soldiers from Light Infantry Battalion 118 attempting to re-seize the hilltop defected to the resistance along with their weapons and ammunition, according to the KNU. No other junta offensives have been reported in Kayah State in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the armed wings of KNU and other resistance groups have stepped up attacks in Karen and Mon states and Tanintharyi and Bago regions and Naypyitaw.

A resistance fighter arrested by the civilian National Unity Government (NUG) for allegedly committing rape and murder remains at large in Sagaing’s Chaung-U Township after escaping detention on July 23, according to the Township People's Administration and local sources. Chaung-U’s People Administration told the Irrawaddy on Friday that the main suspect, Naing Myo Zaw, was on the loose while three of his alleged accomplices remained in detention. “The offender managed to flee while being relocated,” a spokesperson for the People's Administration said. Naing Myo Zaw, the former head of a resistance group in Ngar Shan village, arrested seven civilians including teenage girls and boys on suspicion of being junta informants on Aug. 29, 2022. All of the detainees were slaughtered by the group on Aug. 30 without being interrogated, according to the Chaung-U Township PDF. The three female detainees were reportedly raped before being killed by the group. The township’s People Defense Force (PDF) arrested Naing Myo Zaw and the three other suspects on Aug. 31 and transferred them to the local People’s Security Team, or Pa La Pha, in September 2022. However, the suspects were seen at large after their transfer to the security team. “They were spotted at checkpoints and in their villages after they were transferred to the Pa La Pha last year.  They were eventually arrested in February 2023 when their crime went viral on social media. So, I am quite suspicious about this escape,” a local resistance member said. Local resistance forces said villagers had spotted the fugitive on Pakokku- Chaung-U Road two days after he escaped last month. On July 24, the township’s security team, which serves as the local police force, reported that the suspect escaped while being transferred from a detention center after junta infantry were deployed nearby. Chuang-U’s Pa La Pha declined to answer The Irrawaddy’s inquiry about the escape. People's Administrations and People’s Security Teams are formed under the civilian National Unity Government (NUG)'s Ministry of Home Affairs and Immigration. Chuang-U residents have voiced frustration over the delay in prosecuting the suspects for their alleged crimes. “We want justice for the victims. It has been almost a year but we haven’t seen any progress in this case. To make matters worse, the main culprit is on the loose now. I’m very upset about it,” a villager said. The NUG’s ministries of home affairs and of women and children's affairs released a joint statement on May 4, pledging to take legal action against the suspects. A series of disputes and conflicts have erupted between local PDF groups in Sagaing Region, where hundreds of resistance groups are active. The disputes have resulted in more than 140 complaints being filed with the NUG’s Complaint Resolution Committee since it was established in May this year.