In the jungles of the Dawna Hills in southeastern Myanmar, rebels from an armed ethnic group fight to stop columns of reinforcements sent by the country’s ruling junta to try to take back Myawaddy, a key trading post on the Thai border to win.
What happens in the coming weeks in the battle for Myawaddy and other strategic locations in Myanmar could determine the next phase of a bloody conflict that has dragged on for more than three years and ultimately dictate the fate of the junta.
Myanmar has been plunged into chaos since a military coup in February 2021 led to the rise of an armed resistance that is now working with ethnic minority rebel groups, some of which have been fighting the military for decades.
