Irrawaddy-Nov 15
Less than three weeks since the ethnic Brotherhood Alliance launched its massive “Operation 1027” offensive, the Myanmar military has lost nine towns where its battalions had been based for decades. The junta has lost control of five towns in northern Shan State – Chin Shwe Haw, Phaungsai, Monekoe, Namkham, Hseni and Kunlong – two in the resistance stronghold of Sagaing Region – Kawling and Kamphat – and Rih Kaw Dar in Chin State. The Brotherhood Alliance, made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA), seized the border trade town of Chin Shwe Haw on Oct. 27, the first day of the offensive. Over the next few days, it took control of Phaungsai, Monekoe and Namkham. Kunlong, where the Lashio district junta administration is based, fell on November 12. Myanmar military units have been stationed in Kunlong, the gateway to the Kokang Self-Administered Zone, since independence in 1948. In 1971, the military successfully repulsed 40 days of human-wave attacks on the town by the Communist Party of Burma (CPB). Phaungsai and Monekoe fell to the CPB in 1968 during the Burma Socialist Program Party regime headed by the country’s first military dictator, Ne Win. The previous military regime finally took them back 30 years ago in 1992. The current regime lost them to the ethnic alliance within a few days. The Brotherhood Alliance has also gained almost total control of Kyugok (Pansai) and the strategic town of Hseni in northern Shan State. Two key Myanmar-China trade routes – Lashio-Muse and Lashio-Chin Shwe Haw – converge at Hseni. The ethnic alliance has so far seized at least 144 junta positions. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/war-against-the-junta/nine-towns-occupied-by-myanmar-military-for-decades-lost-to-resistance-in-days.html
