Myanmar rebels lose ground five years after coup

Myanmar's pro-democracy rebels are losing ground five years after the 2021 military coup, as the military regains battlefield initiative and key ethnic armed groups step back under Beijing-backed truces.

Myanmar was plunged into civil war after the military ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. More than 100,000 people have died, according to monitor group ACLED.

People's Defence Force fighters once advanced alongside ethnic armed organisations and threatened major junta-held areas, including near Mandalay. The military has since peeled off the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army through truces brokered by Beijing.

A section commander using the callsign “Villain” said some fighters who joined years ago now had doubts about whether the revolution would succeed. He said retreats followed political losses and “Chinese pressure”.

Morgan Michaels, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the People's Defence Forces were a nuisance rather than a major strategic threat to Myanmar's armed forces without ethnic army support.

The opposition's foreign minister in exile, Zin Mar Aung, acknowledged that losing ethnic faction allies was a blow but said the movement needed to show strength and unity on the ground to change foreign governments' approach.