The Karen National Union is a political organisation with an armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), that claims to represent the Karen people of Myanmar. It operates in mountainous eastern Myanmar and has underground networks in other areas of Myanmar where Karen people live as a minority group.
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.
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 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 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.
The Karen National Defence Organisation is the older of two main military branches of the Karen National Union (KNU), the other being the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). The KNDO fought against the government of Myanmar from 1947 until 1949 as the armed wing of the KNU. It was succeeded by the KNLA when KNDO militias were combined with KNLA forces in 1970.
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.
Shwe Kokko Myaing, commonly known as Shwe Kokko, is a town in Myawaddy Township, Myawaddy District in the Kayin State of south-east Myanmar. Shwe Kokko lies on the left (western) bank of the Moei River, facing Thailand to the east. The town is located 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Myawaddy. In recent years, Shwe Kokko has evolved into an organized crime and human trafficking hub, due to the Burmese government's limited reach and oversight in this remote area. Chinese-led development projects in Shwe Kokko, including Yatai New City, have been involved in illegal gambling, human trafficking, extortion, and cyber scam operations. As Cambodia intensified its crackdown on illegal online gambling in 2019, Chinese crime syndicates and casino operators have found a new base in Myanmar's peripheral border areas.
The Myanmar Civil War, also known as the Burmese Civil War, Burmese Spring Revolution, or People's Defensive War, is an ongoing civil war since 2021. It began 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 ruling government of the State Administration Council, or 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.
She Zhijiang, known as Tang Kriang Kai, and by numerous other aliases including She Lunkai, and Dylan She, is a Chinese Cambodian businessman. As the chairman of the Yatai International Holdings Group, he and his group has long been engaged in investment and operation in grey Industries such as the gambling industry in Southeast Asia. The main targets of these industries are Chinese citizens and Southeast Asians. As convicted criminal in China, She Zhijiang was a fugitive until his capture by Thai police in August 2022. His business operations have been linked with human trafficking, extortion, and cyber scams.
KK Park is a collective name for fraud factories located in Myawaddy, Myanmar. Located next to the Moei River on the Myanmar–Thailand border, the complex is a major hub of Internet fraud and human trafficking within the larger Golden Triangle region.
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 Kawthoolei Army is a militant and separatist group in Myanmar, split from Karen National Union.
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 Kawthoolei Armed Forces is an ethnic Karen rebel alliance.
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.
Karen National Liberation Army Brigade 7 (disputed) [1] 
Nerdah Myah 
Min Aung Hlaing 
