‘Inch by inch’: Myanmar rebels approach major military bases in Chin Province | Military News

Faram Township, Chin State – Photos of fallen fighters in western Myanmar, line up on the walls of the rebel headquarters. This is an honor roll of around 80 young men, starting with 28-year-old Sarah Kang Naupian, who was murdered in May 2021.

The true sacrifice of the Jawed Defence Force (CNDF) extends beyond this hall, and as war against Myanmar’s military reverberates, it grows as wars grow in Chin, a Christian region of the country adjacent to India, where jaw fighters have expelled troops from most of their territory.

“Even if they don’t surrender, we’ll go as far as inches, inches,” CNDF vice president Peter Tan told Al Jazeera in a recent interview.

Released in mid-November, Chin is aggressive in capturing the town of Faram, codenamed “Mission Jerusalem.” Around 50 CNDF and Allied fighters were killed in the first six weeks, and some were buried alive after direct airstrikes by Myanmar’s junta jet fighters in a dirt bunker, Tan said.

Thang estimated similar casualties among Myanmar’s troops, estimated that over 100 government soldiers were captured in the ongoing operation.

Formed by civilians to fight the army after the 2021 coup in Myanmar, the CNDF surrounds the government’s final garrison at a base on the hilltop of Faram.

“We are facing difficult times,” Tan admitted.

“If God is willing to hand over the enemy, we will take it,” he said of the ultimate purpose of the Jerusalem mission.

Taking and embracing Faram, the former capital of Chin province, would mark the first district centre captured by the country’s new rebels without support from established ethnic forces, according to Tan, who operated a travel agency in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital before the coup.

“We have more challenges than others,” he said.

“There is so much technology in the military. We have a limited number of weapons, and even some of them are unable to operate,” he added.

Base on a besieged hill

The CNDF, supported by 15 newly formed armed groups fighters, including a majority of Myanmar’s Bamar people, has surrounded around 600 rebels, encircling around 120 government soldiers trapped at Faram and a hilltop base, relying on supplies for helicopters to survive.

Unlike established ethnic forces fighting to acquire more territory for themselves, the rebels gathered in Chin state said they were aiming to completely overthrow Myanmar’s junta.

The CNDF and allies of the Chin Brotherhood (CB) Union recorded previous victory over the army with support from the powerful Arakan army (AA) of Rakhine State, but the independent seizure of Faram represents a new stage in Myanmar’s revolution.

However, the biggest challenge in the battle remains an aerial attack by the military.

Bombing from operational forces from Russian and Chinese fighters against bases at the top of Faram Hill, rocket-propelled hand-rena bullets, artillery, snipers and machine gun fires defend the front post.

The CNDF commander said that the besieged soldiers once chatted freely with locals, some even married to local jaw women. But it all changed when Myanmar security forces shot peaceful protesters in 2021 in opposition to the expulsion of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government forces.

The protesters fought back, creating an uprising immersed in the lore of many martyrs.

Mya Thwe Thwe Khaing, a 19-year-old protester, was the first victim. He was shot by police on February 9, 2021 in the country’s capital, Naypyidaw.

In April 2021, Chin, armed with a hunting rifle, began the first important battle of the Myanmar uprising in Mindat Town.

Currently, rebels are equipped with assault rifles and grenade launchers. They control most of the countryside and several towns, but remain attacked as the troops settle in the city centre. Failing to launch ground attacks from the depleted ranks, the administration’s generals turned nationwide into forced conscription and indiscriminate airstrikes.

The military has killed at least 6,353 civilians since the coup, according to the rights group’s support association for political prisoners. Observers are predicting even more intense battles this year, with at least 3.5 million people displaced within the country, according to the United Nations.

“Some people died, others ran in all directions.”

In Faram, CNDF Defense Secretary Olivia Sean Ruai said her spouse lives with some of the soldiers on the surrounding hills.

“Most soldiers want to leave their base, but they are under the command of the commander,” said former National Karate Champion Olivia Sean Luai. “They are not allowed to leave base or use the phone,” she said.

Another senior CNDF figure, Timmy Foott, said the commander of the besieged base still has his own phone – and the rebels call his number regularly.

“One day he’ll come and pick you up,” he said. “When you’re ready.”

The troops’ attempt to send reinforcements to Faram failed. Facing the gunshot seat, the helicopter dropped a recruit drafted into the outskirts of Faram and ordered them to fight the way into town. Nothing has been successful.

The captured soldier said his forces had been dropped without a plan and chased by resistance fighters under heavy fire.

“Some people died, others ran in all directions,” the soldier told Al Jazeera.

“HQ said we can’t waste a jet sortie just for a few of us,” he said. The army he continued to lose “many clever and valuable” soldiers since the coup.

“They gave their lives for everything,” he said.

“In the end, military leaders will provide peace negotiations and there will probably be democracy.”

Among those who have been evacuated by the battle at Faram and forced to evacuate under the bridge and Tarpoline, a new generation is preparing to fight.

Junior, 15, who helps with the Chin Hospital camp, spoke from an air raid shelter inside the ears of jets dropping bombs.

“I’ll do whatever I can,” Junior said. “There is no way to study in Myanmar. I don’t want to face this in future generations,” she said.

“No one is alive”

However, jaw resistance is also working on internal splitting. It is divided into two factions. One is Chin National Front (CNF), founded in 1988, was founded with allies, and the other is Chin Brotherhood, consisting of six post-coop resistance groups, including the CNDF.

Their conflict focuses on who shapes the future of Chin – CNF, which favors dialect-based governance structures, CB prefers governance in townships. The distinction between language and land determined the distribution of power, coupled with tribal rivalry and traditional mistrust, led to occasional violent clashes between jaw groups.

Myanmar analyst R Lakhha described the split as “serious”, but mediation efforts by Mizoram authorities in Northeast India show progress.

On February 26, the two rival factions announced they would merge to form the Chin National Council with the goal of integrating different armed groups under one military leadership and administration.

While welcoming development, Rakhha stressed that the process must be “very systematic” and include key political leaders from both sides, not just advocacy groups.

“The chin civilians suffer the most,” he said. “Even despite liberation, some people are unable to return home due to this internal conflict.”

He said that capturing Faram is “important.” The nearby town of Tedim said it could present a simpler target, freeing up more territory in the CB and strengthening its negotiating position with the CNF Union.

Lakher estimates that more than 70% of the Chin state have been released.

“We’ve seen the military regime defeated in Myanmar,” he said. “But democratic forces need unity.”

He said the responsibility was to “connect all democratic forces” to a national unified government known as Myanmar’s shadow government.

“In so many armed groups, there is concern that they will fight each other without strong leadership,” he said. “The ethnic regions are freed, but the lands of Bamar are under military control. The pace of the revolution now depends on the people of Bamar.”

Along the road leading from the town of Faram, two trucks loaded with captured regimes passed a jaw-bombed church, a mustard reef garden, and a mother hugging her baby under a heavy shawl. As the truck crossed the road with resistance fighters heading towards the front, the neurological prisoners claimed they had been forced to serve in military service.

“You were drafted five months ago,” a rebel fighter accused a truck prisoner. “What were you doing before that? He asked. He then added: “We’ve been fighting the revolution.”

Another rebel has joined the responsibilities.

“We count the lucky people to be captured here,” he said. And it’s not a harsh central arid land in the country where rebel units are not checked.

“No one will be living there,” he added.