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.
The Arakan 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 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 adition to around 1500 in Kachin 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 Mon National Liberation Army is a Mon insurgent group in Myanmar (Burma). It is the armed wing of the New Mon State Party (NMSP), and has been fighting government forces since 1949, though under different names. The NMSP signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) on 15 October 2015 with several other insurgent groups and the government of Myanmar.
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.
The Shanni Nationalities Army is a Shanni insurgent group active in northern Sagaing Region and Kachin State, Myanmar (Burma). It was founded as a group in 1989 but was transformed into an armed group in January 2016 by expelled Shanni members of the Kachin Independence Army. The SNA has five objectives – to gain statehood, to fight drugs, to establish a federal Union, to build unity among all Shan sub-groups, and to conserve ecological balance.
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 (NUG) 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 Myanmar Spring Revolution 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. As of January 2024, thousands of soldiers have surrendered without a fight, including six generals of the Tatmadaw. Some observers write that the Tatmadaw's forces remain "formidable and well-equipped", with "external allies and economic resources".
The Myanmar Royal Dragon Army, also known as Myanmar's Royal Dragon Army, was an armed resistance organisation based in Pale Township, Sagaing Region. It was founded on 1 January 2022 by its leader, Bo Nagar, and was under the command of the National Unity Government.the Myanmar Royal Dragon Army was reformed and renamed as the Burma National Revolutionary Army on September 9, 2023.
Events in the year 2022 in Myanmar.
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 Tar Taing massacre was a mass killing of civilians by Burmese military forces between 1 and 2 March 2023, in the village of Tadaing, Sagaing Region, located 28 miles (45 km) west of Mandalay, Myanmar's 2nd largest city. During the massacre, Myanmar Army troops killed at least 17 civilians. The event has become one of Myanmar's deadliest civilian massacres in 2023. Just nine days after this massacre, military troops killed at least 28 additional individuals in the Pinlaung massacre.
The Mon Taing Pin massacre was a mass killing of civilians by Burmese military forces on 11 May 2022, in the village of Mondaingbin, Sagaing Region, Myanmar. During the massacre, Myanmar Army troops executed at least 37 villagers. Sagaing Region later became the site of several additional mass killings perpetrated by the Burmese military, including the Letyetkon and Tadaing massacres.
Pyusawhti militias, also spelt Pyu Saw Htee) are loosely organised networks of pro-military and pro-junta villagers operating in Myanmar. The term was first used in 1956, after U Nu's government created Pyusawhti paramilitary units to assist the military with counterinsurgency operations. After a coup in 1958, the army tried to disband them, but they instead evolved into the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League party's personal militias. They were more successfully replaced with Kakweye units after the 1962 coup. In the 2000s the groups re-emerged out of existing local networks of Buddhist nationalists, members of the military's proxy party, Union Solidarity and Development Party, and army veterans. The militias became increasingly active in 2021, when junta-appointed ward and village tract administrators and offices were attacked throughout the country. Observers have noted ties with extremist nationalist groups like the Patriotic Association of Myanmar.
The 2022 Battle of Loikaw was a battle for the city of Loikaw, in Myanmar's Kayah State, between January and July 2022. The State Administration Council's Tatmadaw forces attacked the city at the beginning of 2022, which was being held by the Karenni Nationalities Defence Force and local People's Defence Force groups. The fighting caused over 90,000 people in Loikaw Township to flee.
The Chin theater is one of the theaters of the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), with resistance forces fighting against the Tatmadaw military junta in Chin State, western Myanmar.
The First Battle of Demoso began on May 21, 2021, between the forces of the State Administration Council junta and Karenni separatist groups allied with the anti-junta People's Defence Force (PDF) during the 2021 Myanmar civil war. The battle took place over the span of a few weeks in the city of Demoso and surrounding villages, eventually ending in a ceasefire between the two parties.
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 Thway Thout Ap We or Thway Thauk Apwe are a death squad active in Myanmar's central Mandalay Region since the Myanmar civil war. Emerging in early 2022, the Thway Thout's ideology beyond support for the Tatmadaw and opposition to the National League for Democracy remains uncertain. The group has claimed responsibility for the killing of several NLD members and activists since its foundation.
The Anyar theater is one of the theaters of the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), taking place in Myanmar's Anyar 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 Defence Force 
