Myanmar military launches new offensives in border regions

Myanmar’s military has launched renewed offensives across several border regions, including areas containing critical rare earth deposits and key cross-border trade routes, amid continuing conflict in the country’s civil war.

The operations come a month after a new military administration formally assumed control of the war-torn country, with the armed forces reportedly stepping up efforts to reclaim strategic territory from ethnic armed groups, Reuters reports.

New military chief Ye Win Oo, who took office in March after his predecessor stepped down to become president, is leading an intensified push to retake border strongholds, according to rebel spokespeople and analysts cited by Reuters.

The offensives have focused on Kachin State—an area rich in heavy rare-earth minerals bordering China—as well as Chin State on the Indian frontier and key trade corridors in Karen State along the Thai border.

State-run media reported that military officials claimed recent battlefield gains. At a meeting last week, Ye Win Oo said troops had secured Falam town in Chin State and a key route linking Mandalay and Myitkyina in Kachin State, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

“The military's strategic rationale is that they need to regain control over the primary communication and trade routes in Myanmar,” said Myanmar analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe. “We can see that the military is trying desperately to recapture towns that host border trade gates.”

An official from Myanmar’s presidential office, reached by phone, declined to comment.

The renewed military push comes after former junta chief-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing last month urged opposition armed groups to enter peace talks within 100 days, a proposal widely rejected by ethnic armed organisations.

Myanmar’s conflict escalated in 2021 after the military ousted the democratically elected government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering nationwide protests that evolved into armed resistance across multiple regions.

By Sabina Mammadli