Junta airstrikes spike since launch of ‘Operation 1027’: report

By Admin 07 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
7 August 2024, Sittwe

Junta airstrikes have doubled across Myanmar since the Three Brotherhood Alliance launched ‘Operation 1027’ in late October in northern Shan State, according to a report from the Institute for Strategy and Policy (ISP) released on Monday.

The regime carried out over 2,000 aerial attacks in the more than two years before Operation 1027, but the number swelled to at least 3,800 in the nine months since the offensive. The regime carried out more than 650 airstrikes in January of this year — the highest number recorded in a single month since the coup.

Karenni State has suffered the most with 920 airstrikes, followed by Shan State with 680 strikes over the past nine months, according to the ISP report.

Political analyst U Than Soe Naing said: “The junta’s army is losing the war. So, the regime has increasingly used airstrikes and naval bombardment where possible. This shows the regime is losing ground. The regime is committing terrorism by conducting indiscriminate attacks.”

The regime has carried out more than 5,800 airstrikes over the past three years since the coup, affecting at least 147 out of the Myanmar’s 330 townships, or 45 percent of the country, according to the ISP report.

The most air raids since the coup have been carried out in Sagaing Region and Shan State, according to ISP-Myanmar report.

“The regime can only rely on its aerial campaign now. Civilian casualties have risen across the country. But the regime keeps blaming anti-regime groups,” said a social activist from Arakan State.

The Brotherhood Alliance, which consists of the Arakkha Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), has strongly condemned junta’s air attacks on non-conflict zones, and has asked China to intervene to help stop the attacks. 

The regime has made a pattern of attacking towns seized by anti-regime groups in recent months.