The Tatmadaw or Sit-Tat is the military of Myanmar. It is administered by the Ministry of Defence and composed of the Myanmar Army, the Myanmar Navy and the Myanmar Air Force. Auxiliary services include the Myanmar Police Force, the Border Guard Forces, the Myanmar Coast Guard, and the People's Militia Units. Since independence in 1948, the Tatmadaw has faced significant ethnic insurgencies, especially in Chin, Kachin, Kayin, Kayah, and Shan states. General Ne Win took control of the country in a 1962 coup d'état, attempting to build an autarkic society called the Burmese Way to Socialism. Following the violent repression of nationwide protests in 1988, the military agreed to free elections in 1990, but ignored the resulting victory of the National League for Democracy and imprisoned its leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The 1990s also saw the escalation of the conflict involving Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State due to RSO attacks on the Tatmadaw forces, which saw the Rohingya minority facing oppression and, starting in 2017, genocide.
The Karen National Liberation Army is the military branch of the Karen National Union (KNU), which campaigns for the self-determination of the Karen people of Myanmar. The KNLA has been fighting the Burmese government since 1960s as part of the Karen conflict, which has been ongoing since 1949.
Insurgencies have been ongoing in Myanmar since 1948, the year the country, then known as Burma, gained independence from the United Kingdom. The conflict has largely been ethnic-based, with several ethnic armed groups fighting Myanmar's armed forces, the Tatmadaw, for self-determination. Despite numerous ceasefires and the creation of autonomous self-administered zones in 2008, many armed groups continue to call for independence, increased autonomy, or the federalisation of the country. The conflict is the world's longest ongoing civil war, having spanned more than seven decades.
Laukkai is the capital of Kokang Self-Administered Zone in the northern part of Shan State, Myanmar. It is located east of the Salween River, which forms part of Myanmar's border with the People's Republic of China at its upper reaches. It is about 10 miles (16 km) away from Nansan, China. In Laukkai, Southwestern Mandarin and Chinese characters are widely used, and the Chinese renminbi is in circulation. It is the main town of Laukkaing Township of the Kokang Self-Administered Zone. It is 117 miles (188 km) from Lashio and 42 miles (68 km) from Kongyan. Its population is 23,435. Laukkai is notorious for its gambling, prostitution, human trafficking and online scams.
The Arakan Army, officially the Arakha Army is an ethnic armed organisation based in Rakhine State (Arakan). Founded on 10 April 2009, the AA is the military wing of the United League of Arakan (ULA). It is currently led by Commander-in-Chief Major General Twan Mrat Naing and vice deputy commander-in-chief Brigadier General Nyo Twan Awng. The Arakan Army states that the objective of its armed revolution is to restore the sovereignty of the Arakan people. In a February 2024 interview, Twan Mrat Naing claimed that the AA had grown to at least 38,000 troops. Anthony Davis, an expert of military and security, rejected this claim and estimated that it has at least 15,000 troops in Chin State and Rakhine State, in addition to around 1500 in Kachin State and Shan State. In the early 2010s, the Arakan Army fought alongside the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) against the Tatmadaw in the Kachin conflict. Following the 2016 outbreak of conflict in Rakhine state, AA became more heavily involved in the Arakan region. In 2019, AA would launch attacks on state security forces and the Myanmar Army would respond heightening clashes. The AA reached a ceasefire in late 2020 after eroding the central government's control in northern Rakhine. The power vacuum would be filled by the AA over the next 18 months with state-building efforts, like their COVID-19 vaccine rollouts.
The Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) is a Rohingya insurgent group and political organisation. It was founded in 1982 following a large scale military operation conducted by the Tatmadaw. The group discontinued its armed rebellion in 1998 but rearmed itself following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.
The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) is an armed resistance group in the Kokang region of Myanmar (Burma). The army has existed since 1989, having been the first one to sign a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government. The ceasefire lasted for about two decades.
The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), formerly known as Harakah al-Yaqin, is a Rohingya insurgent group active in northern Rakhine State, Myanmar. According to a December 2016 report by the International Crisis Group, it is led by Ataullah abu Ammar Jununi, a Rohingya man who was born in Karachi, Pakistan, and grew up in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Other members of its leadership include a committee of Rohingya émigrés in Saudi Arabia.
Violent clashes have been ongoing in the northern part of Myanmar's Rakhine State since October 2016. Insurgent attacks by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) have led to sectarian violence perpetrated by Myanmar's military and the local Buddhist population against predominantly Muslim Rohingya civilians. The conflict has sparked international outcry and was described as an ethnic cleansing by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. In August 2017, the situation worsened and hundreds of thousands of refugees fled Myanmar into Bangladesh, with an estimated 500,000 refugees having arrived by 27 September 2017. In January 2019, Arakan Army insurgents raided border police posts in Buthidaung Township, joining the conflict and beginning their military campaign in northern Rakhine State against the Burmese military.
2021 (MMXXI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2021st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 21st year of the 3rd millennium and the 21st century, and the 2nd year of the 2020s decade.
The timeline of the 2021 Myanmar Revolution chronicles the 2021 Myanmar protests, known locally as the Spring Revolution, that began in early 2021 in opposition to the coup d'état on 1 February, staged by Min Aung Hlaing, the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces, the Tatmadaw.
The Kalay clashes are a series of clashes between the Tatmadaw and armed civilians in the town of Kalay and surrounding villages in Kale Township during the Myanmar civil war. The conflict in the township has become one of the first instances of armed resistance to the military of Myanmar apart from actions by Ethnic Armed Organizations during the recent unrest in the country following the February coup.
The People's Defence Force is the armed wing of the National Unity Government in Myanmar. The armed wing was formed by the NUG from youths and pro-democracy activists on 5 May 2021 in response to the coup d'état that occurred on 1 February 2021 that put the military junta and their armed wing the Tatmadaw in power. The military junta designated it as a terrorist organisation on 8 May 2021. In October 2021, NUG's Ministry of Defence announced that it had formed a central committee to coordinate military operations across the country.
The Myanmar civil war, also called the Burmese Spring Revolution, Burmese civil war or People's Defensive War, is an ongoing civil war following Myanmar's long-running insurgencies, which escalated significantly in response to the 2021 military coup d'état and the subsequent violent crackdown on anti-coup protests. The exiled National Unity Government and major ethnic armed organisations repudiated the 2008 Constitution and called instead for a democratic federal state. Besides engaging this rebel alliance, the junta also contends with other anti-junta forces in areas under its control. Hannah Beech of The New York Times observed the insurgents are apportioned into hundreds of armed groups scattered across the country.
The Chinland Defense Force is a rebel group in Myanmar. It was formed in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état to protect Chin State from the military junta. The CDF claims that they do not attack the military without cause and that they always issue a warning, such as releasing detainees and refraining from using violence against civilians. If the military does not respond, guerrilla or other action follows. They promise to return their weapons and disband if the revolution is successful. CDFs are members of CJDC. Chinland Joint Defense Committee (CJDC) is formed to serve Chin people's security services and protect an enemy from the illegal Myanmar Army. The total strength of active personnel under the command of CJDC is approximated to be around 15,000. From August to October 2021, it was reported that at least 40 clashes occurred between junta troops and CDF in various townships. CJDC claimed that at least 1,029 Tatmadaw soldiers were killed in the clashes and lost 58 of their own in 2021.
The following is a timeline of major events during the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), following the 2021 military coup d'état and protests. It was also a renewed intensity in existing internal conflict in Myanmar.
Operation 1027 is an ongoing military offensive conducted by the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a military coalition composed of three ethnic armed organisations in Myanmar: the Arakan Army (AA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Ta'ang National Liberation Army (TNLA), allied with other rebel forces in the country, against the Tatmadaw, Myanmar's ruling military junta.
The Three Brotherhood Alliance ;, also known as Brotherhood Alliance, is an alliance between the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army formed in June 2019.
The military of Myanmar (Tatmadaw), its allies, and anti-junta forces, have committed numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 2021–present Myanmar civil war.
The Dry Zone theater, also known as the Anyar theater, is one of the theaters of the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), taking place in Myanmar's Dry Zone region which encompasses the Bamar-majority Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay regions. It has been described as the "prime center" of resistance against the junta.
People's Defense Forces 
