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.
Myawaddy is a town in southeastern Myanmar, in Kayin State, close to the border with Thailand. Separated from the Thai border town of Mae Sot by the Moei River, the town is the most important trading point between Myanmar and Thailand. Myawaddy is 170 kilometres (110 mi) east of Mawlamyine, the fourth largest city of Myanmar, and 426 kilometres (265 mi) northwest of Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.
Kawkareik, also spelled as Kawkarike, is a town in Karen State, Myanmar. It is the capital of Kawkaraik District and Kawkaraik Township.
The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army was an insurgent group of Buddhist soldiers and officers in Myanmar that split from the predominantly Christian-led Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), one of the largest rebel factions in Myanmar. Shortly after splitting from the KNLA in December 1994, the DKBA signed a ceasefire agreement with the government of Myanmar in exchange for military and financial assistance; provided that it supported government offensives against the KNU and its allies.
The 2010–2012 Myanmar border clashes were a series of skirmishes between the Tatmadaw on one side, and the DKBA-5 and the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) on the other. The clashes erupted along the border with Thailand shortly after Myanmar's general election on 7 November 2010. An estimated 10,000 refugees have fled into nearby neighbouring Thailand to escape the violent conflict. There was concern that due to discontent with the elections, and speculations of electoral fraud, that the conflict could escalate into a civil war.
Mae La, alternatively spelled Maela, or Beh klaw, is a refugee camp in Thailand. It was established in 1984 in Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province in the Dawna Range area and houses 50,000 Karen refugees; the number continues to rise as of June 2019. Mae La is the largest refugee camp for Karen refugees in Thailand. Over 90% are the persecuted ethnic Karen. The camps are overseen and run by the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), a union of 11 international non-governmental organizations that provide food, shelter and non food items to the Burmese refugees and displaced people.
The Karen conflict is an armed conflict in Kayin State, Myanmar. It is part of the wider internal conflict in Myanmar between the military government and various minority groups. Karen nationalists have been fighting for an independent state, known as Kawthoolei, since 1949. The Karen National Union (KNU) and its Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) are the most prominent Karen rebel groups. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the conflict, many of whom fled to neighbouring Thailand and survive in refugee camps.
The Thai–Myanmar Friendship Bridge is a bridge over the Moei river, which connects the city of Mae Sot in Tak Province in Thailand with the city of Myawaddy in Kayin State in Myanmar. This international bridge is 420 m (1,380 ft) long and 13 m wide. The bridge forms an important link on Asian Highway 1 of Asian Highway Network. Another bridge to the north of the first, called the Second Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge was opened in 2019 and serves as another connection between Mae Sot and Myawaddy. The bridges are part of the East-West Economic Corridor connecting Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam.
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 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.
Lay Kay Kaw Myothit is a town in Myawaddy Township, Kayin State in southeastern Myanmar. Nine miles in the south of Myawaddy, it is close to the border with Thailand.
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 alliance, the SAC also contends with other anti-SAC 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.
Colonel Saw Chit Thu is a Karen soldier and businessperson, sometimes identified as a warlord, who has held a leading position in armed groups in Karen State, Myanmar, including the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), the Border Guard Forces (BGF) and the Karen National Army (KNA). He is considered a powerful figure in the border area, and has been sanctioned by the United Kingdom for links to projects which use trafficked and forced labour in online scam farms.
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.
The Battle of Kawkareik or siege of Kawkareik occurred in late October 2022 when the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) escalated fighting in southeastern Myanmar and besieged the district-level capital town of Kawkareik. At the time, it appeared to be a significant first seizure of a major town by anti-junta forces since the renewed civil war.
The ongoing Myanmar civil war has had an impact on neighbouring countries. Refugees and junta officials have fled into Bangladesh, India and Thailand. Territorial violations of Bangladeshi territory, such as artillery strikes and firing at vessels near St. Martin's Island, have caused border tensions. In India, the conflict also contributed to the 2023–2024 Manipur violence.
The Siege of Myawaddy was a significant military engagement that occurred in early 2024, during the ongoing conflict in Myanmar. The siege took place in the town of Myawaddy, located on the eastern border with Thailand.
The Karen National Army, formerly the Karen Border Guard Force, is a primarily Karen Buddhist ethnic army active in Kayin State, Myanmar, which split off from the Myanmar Army in January 2024. The KNA was formed as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) in December 1994 after the insurgent group split off of the Karen National Liberation Army. Shortly after, the DKBA signed a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmar Army, officially joining the army as the Karen Border Guard Force alongside the Karen Peace Force in 2009. In January 2024, after intensified rebel operations throughout Myanmar, the Karen BGF began distancing itself from the ruling military junta, eventually splitting off from the Army and rebranding themselves the "Karen National Army" by April.
The Shwe Kokko Offensive was a failed offensive by Karen EAOs and the People's Defense Force on the city of Shwe Kokko.
The Battle of Lay Kay Kaw was an engagement between allied Karen National Union/ People's Defense Force fighters and the Myanmar Tatmadaw that began on 14 December 2021.
People's Defense Force 
Min Aung Hlaing 
