Irrawaddy-Nov 30
Myanmar’s junta chief said on Wednesday “foreign experts” were helping ethnic minority armed groups in their widespread offensive against the military along the northern border with China. Clashes have raged across Myanmar’s northern Shan State after an armed alliance of three ethnic minority groups launched surprise attacks against the military in October. The groups have seized dozens of military positions and a town important for trade with China, in what analysts say is the biggest military challenge to the junta since it seized power in 2021. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said “foreign drone experts” had been involved in attacks on military outposts last month in northern Shan State, according to a junta statement. Ethnic minority rebels had been using “drones with advanced technology” to attack junta positions, he said without elaborating. He did not specify which country the “foreign experts” were from. Since deposing the democratic government in 2021, the military has struggled to quell armed resistance from civilian anti-junta People’s Defence Force groups. But the new offensive—which has seized towns and blocked vital trade routes to key junta backer China—poses the biggest threat yet to the generals, analysts say. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/myanmars-crisis-the-world/myanmar-junta-chief-says-foreign-experts-helping-in-offensive-against-military.html
