The rebel Arakan Army is closing in on Sittwe, the capital of Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, firing artillery on military junta outposts outside the city and preparing for an assault, residents told Radio Free Asia.
Residents have been fleeing from Sittwe’s outskirts since January, but now aren’t able to escape because junta forces have blocked all exit routes, said Wai Hin Aung, an aid worker in the city. “The blockade has led to this fighting, with the use of heavy weapons,” he said.
The rebel ethnic Arakan Army, or AA, has made significant gains over the past year in its bid to root the military out of Rakhine state in its bid for self-determination.
Of the 17 townships in Rakhine state, 14 are under the control of the AA, leaving only three still in the hands of the military junta – Kyaukphyu, Munaung and Sittwe, where the junta’s regional headquarters is based.
Sittwe is crucial for the junta – which seized control of Myanmar in a 2021 coup d’état – not only as a source of much-needed revenue and foreign currency, but also for its role in Myanmar’s oil and gas trade via the Indian Ocean.
If Sittwe falls, it would be the latest and one of the most significant defeats for the junta, which has been pushed back across the country by various ethnic armies and armed citizens who have formed militias called Peoples Defense Forces, or PDF.
Junta forces have countered with artillery attacks and airstrikes on areas in Sittwe and two nearby towns where they believe that AA troops are stationed, a resident said, speaking anonymously for security reasons.
Firing on naval vessels
The Arakan Army also fired on junta vessels at a river naval base, a Sittwe resident told Radio Free Asia.
The AA began firing at around 5 p.m., and junta fighter planes responded by dropping bombs on AA positions at about 9 p.m., he said. Several junta soldiers were wounded in the AA attack and were taken to a Sittwe hospital.
“The explosions were quite strong,” he said. “The junta dropped about three big bombs. Then they started firing with a series of missiles.”
The junta has recently reinforced its forces in and around Sittwe, and has also provided military training to thousands of Rohingya – a stateless ethnic group that predominantly follows Islam and resides in Rakhine.
A Sittwe resident and military analyst from Rakhine state told RFA that neither the AA nor the military junta will easily abandon Sittwe.
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“The AA is unlikely to halt its attacks on Sittwe, and the military will not abandon the city,” he said. “That’s why intense fighting cannot be ruled out.”
Rakhine State’s junta spokesperson, Hla Thein, didn’t answer his telephone when RFA tried to contact him for comment about the situation in Sittwe.
AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha also didn’t immediately respond to a message left by RFA.
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.