According to media reports, more than 50 clashes have erupted in Myanmar in the last week. First, in the early morning hours of April 28, the Dawei Bridge in Myanmar’s Monin township was blown up by multiple bombs. The railroad and road bridge was severely damaged. The bridge is an important transportation link between Mandalay, Burma’s second largest city, and Myitkyina. It is also an important link between central and northern Burma.
Meanwhile, on April 28, a police station in Yangon, Myanmar, was bombed, injuring several police officers. The Burmese military and police have now surrounded and blocked the surrounding roads for a major search. In the early morning hours of April 29, at least five rockets were fired at the Myitkyi La airbase in Burma, and there were several incidents of gunfire. There was also a bomb attack on an airbase in Magway Division.
Now in Burma, local Burmese forces are joining forces with Aung San Suu Kyi’s faction, the most active of which is the Karen Army. They first deployed the 4th Battalion of the 5th Brigade to capture a position of the 75th Infantry Battalion of the Burmese Army’s 66th Light Infantry Division on March 27, capturing large quantities of weapons and ammunition and also taking many Burmese soldiers prisoner. Meanwhile, the Wa, Kokang, Deang and Rakhine local forces are being united.
The strongest of these are the United Wa State Army, and the Karen Army, which has seven brigades of 10,000 men. But in terms of strength, it is difficult for the Burmese army to enter the mountainous areas to defeat all the local forces. The local forces also do not have the strength to enter the Burmese region to fight the Burmese army head-on.
First of all, the Burmese army has more heavy weapons and more aircraft, so when they enter the plain areas, the local forces simply cannot fight. The Burmese army has a land force consisting of 700 tanks, 1,000 artillery pieces and 400 rocket launchers. The air force also has 76 warplanes, including MiG 29s, and many Russian-made Mi-35 helicopter gunships.
And the Burmese army is large, with 360,000 men, including more than 260,000 in the army. Whether in terms of weaponry, training, or numbers, the Burmese army is absolutely superior. The local forces can only rely on mountainous terrain and forests to keep the Burmese army at bay. Once they enter the plains, they have no chance to win.
The strength of local forces in Burma is relatively weak, so they tend to use small-scale attacks and guerrilla warfare tactics. The recent attacks on two Burmese air bases are due to the fact that Burmese army warplanes are using these two bases to carry out heavy air strikes against local forces.
Since April, fighting between the local Kachin Army and the Burmese army has broken out in Patmo and other areas. On one day, April 27, the Burmese army launched five airstrike operations against the Kachin Army to cover the counter-offensive of the Burmese Army’s 77th Battalion and other units. As a result, the local forces have launched attacks on 2 air bases in order to contain the Burma Army’s reinforcements by blowing up bridges on the one hand, and to combat the Burma Army’s air raid capability on the other.
However, if Aung San Suu Kyi’s faction allied with the 10 local armed forces to unify their deployment and operations, they would still be weaker than the Tatmadaw, though. But it would be a major threat to the Burmese army. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages.
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