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Burning Villages: Violence Escalates as Myanmar Military Reacts to Territorial Losses (bellingcat)
https://www.bellingcat.com/news/rest-of-world/2024/06/05/myanmar-military-territorial-losses-war-conflict-human-rights-burma/Burning Villages: Violence Escalates as Myanmar Military Reacts to Territorial Losses
June 5, 2024
Over three years since the February 2021 coup that toppled a democratically elected government in Myanmar, the military junta is losing large swaths of land to anti-coup resistance fighters and ethnic rebel groups. Several opposition forces have formed alliances, taking back key junta strongholds. A coordinated offensive ‘Operation 1027’ that began on October 27, 2023 in Shan State, on the eastern border with China, has now spread across the country.
The junta, which calls itself the State Administration Council (SAC), is in a crisis and civilians in different parts of Myanmar are still bearing the brunt of the fighting between the military and armed opposition groups. In particular the military’s response to losing ground has been characterised by increased attacks against civilians. “Over the last five months, there has been a five-fold increase in airstrikes against civilians,” the UN reported in March.
Airstrikes
Bellingcat has geolocated some of the villages and towns affected by the ongoing violence that stretches across the country. Furthermore, our analysis of data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) reveals that the military has conducted nearly 100 airstrikes (including drone strikes) each month since November. ACLED’s data comes from multiple sources including media and social media–and while the data is incomplete, a broad trend can be identified. You can read further details and caveats about the data, here.
[...]
June 5, 2024
Over three years since the February 2021 coup that toppled a democratically elected government in Myanmar, the military junta is losing large swaths of land to anti-coup resistance fighters and ethnic rebel groups. Several opposition forces have formed alliances, taking back key junta strongholds. A coordinated offensive ‘Operation 1027’ that began on October 27, 2023 in Shan State, on the eastern border with China, has now spread across the country.
The junta, which calls itself the State Administration Council (SAC), is in a crisis and civilians in different parts of Myanmar are still bearing the brunt of the fighting between the military and armed opposition groups. In particular the military’s response to losing ground has been characterised by increased attacks against civilians. “Over the last five months, there has been a five-fold increase in airstrikes against civilians,” the UN reported in March.
Airstrikes
Bellingcat has geolocated some of the villages and towns affected by the ongoing violence that stretches across the country. Furthermore, our analysis of data compiled by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) reveals that the military has conducted nearly 100 airstrikes (including drone strikes) each month since November. ACLED’s data comes from multiple sources including media and social media–and while the data is incomplete, a broad trend can be identified. You can read further details and caveats about the data, here.
[...]