Myanmar’s military has stepped up operations across multiple border regions, including areas rich in rare earth deposits and key trade routes, just a month after a new administration officially took office in the conflict-ridden country.
New military chief Ye Win Oo, who assumed office in March after his longtime predecessor stepped down to become president, is leading an intensified push to retake strategic frontier positions from ethnic armed groups that have grown stronger in recent years, according to rebel spokespeople and analysts who spoke to Reuters.
The latest operations are concentrated in Kachin State, home to heavy rare earth resources along the border with China, as well as Chin State on the Indian frontier and parts of Karen State, a vital trade route adjacent to Thailand.
At a meeting last week, Ye Win Oo said troops had secured Falam town in Chin State and a key supply route linking Mandalay and Myitkyina in Kachin State, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar.
"The military’s strategic rationale is that they need to regain control over the primary communication and trade routes in Myanmar,” said Myanmar analyst Sai Kyi Zin Soe.
"We can see that the military is trying desperately to recapture towns that host border trade gates.”
An official from Myanmar’s presidential office, reached by phone, declined to comment.
Reuters could not independently verify the details of the military offensives and their early successes across parts of Myanmar, where media access remains restricted. The offensives come after former junta chief turned president Min Aung Hlaing last month urged rebel groups opposed to the military to enter peace talks within 100 days, a proposal that many ethnic armed groups immediately rejected.
Myanmar’s conflict began in 2021, when the military staged a coup that ousted the democratically elected civilian government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The takeover triggered a nationwide uprising that escalated into armed resistance, with multiple ethnic armed groups and rebel forces pushing the military out of several regions.
Border gateways
The military is seeking to push deeper into northern Kachin State, aiming to retake mining areas along the Chinese border that produce roughly half of the world’s heavy rare earths, which are essential for wind turbines and electric vehicles. Naw Bu, a spokesperson for the Kachin Independence Army, which took control of the area in October 2024, said the group has prepared its defenses, particularly around Chipwi and Pangwa townships.
"We will welcome them with the barrels of our guns,” he said.
At the same time, the military has launched an intensified offensive in western Chin State, which borders India, threatening a key cross-border logistics route that supports opposition groups inside Myanmar.
Resistance fighters have carried out strategic retreats from Falam and Tonzang towns in the state as the military carries out heavy aerial bombardment to regain lost territory, said Salai Van, a spokesperson for the Chin National Front. Reuters has reported that fuel supplied via illicit channels has previously supported an extensive bombing campaign by the Myanmar military, which struck more than 1,000 civilian locations over a 15-month period. The military has not shown signs of being constrained by fuel shortages, despite broader regional energy disruptions, although civilians have been heavily affected by rising costs.
The military has also launched an offensive to seize control of the Myawaddy-Kawkareik highway near Thailand, a key trade route where fighting has intensified since the Karen National Union took control of the border town of Myawaddy in 2024.
The Karen National Union is among the groups Min Aung Hlaing specifically referenced in his call to bring opposition forces to talks by July 31.
"The military has repeatedly violated pledges along the path to peace and paid no heed to agreements,” said Saw Taw Nee, a spokesperson for the Karen National Union.
"Therefore, it goes without saying that there is a complete absence of trust. Whatever they attempt is bound to fail.”