Myanmar civil war

Assessment

The junta's Operation 4926, launched on Sept 4 across five fronts in Rakhine State and the Magway, Bago and Ayeyarwady borderlands, had captured no Arakan Army territory or outposts as of Sept 14 despite heavy artillery, airstrikes, drones and naval assets. Ground columns remain stalled at Ponnagyun and along the Awataung-Sa Ne road in Kyaukphyu Township, where Burma News International reported on Sept 14 that Arakan Army units intercepted a junta column advancing from Awa Taung village near the Taung Maw Oo naval station on Sept 9 and 10 and seized weapons and ammunition while regime forces fell back on airstrikes and naval artillery. Air power is the military's main remaining instrument: an airstrike near the Uri Taung Pagoda in Ponnagyun town at about noon on Sept 13 killed two civilians and wounded three. Fighting is concentrated around Sittwe and Kyaukphyu, site of the Chinese port and pipeline terminal, where more than 60,000 people have been displaced since February 2024, against a national toll of more than 100,000 dead and 5.2 million displaced.