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Resistance forces seeking to oust Myanmar\u2019s military regime captured a key trade town on the Thai border this week, one of their most significant gains since the junta seized power in a coup more than three years ago. But thousands of residents were fleeing on Friday as the regime\u2019s troops prepared to mount a counteroffensive.<\/p>\n
The town, Myawaddy, which is now held by rebels belonging to the Karen ethnic group, is a hub for imports and exports, with $1 billion in trade last year. Its fall comes as resistance forces have seized dozens of towns and military outposts in recent months in border regions near China and Bangladesh. Rebel groups have also launched drones that hit the capital, Naypyidaw, and military bases when top junta generals were visiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cA major border trade hub that serves as Myanmar\u2019s gateway to mainland Southeast Asia has fallen to the resistance,\u201d said Anthony Davis, a Bangkok-based security analyst with the Jane\u2019s group of military publications. \u201cThis is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n
The regime\u2019s spokesman, Gen. Zaw Min Tun, declined to take repeated calls from The New York Times. But he acknowledged to the BBC Burmese service on Thursday night that junta troops had evacuated their main base in Myawaddy and that soldiers from two resistance groups, the Karen National Liberation Army and the Karen National Army, \u201care present\u201d in the town.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Residents stood in lines for hours at the southeastern border with Thailand on Friday as they sought safety in the Thai town of Mae Sot before the junta launches its expected counteroffensive. Thai officials have said that they will take as many as 100,000 refugees.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t believe the Myanmar military will easily give up on control of Myawaddy,\u201d said Ma Khin Lay Nge, 33, as she waited in line at the bridge over the Moei River, which links the two border towns. \u201cEven if they do, I fear they will destroy it without regard for civilian lives, as they see the people as their enemies.\u201d<\/p>\n
She noted that the military had bombed towns in Shan State in November and December after resistance forces captured them. On Thursday, regime aircraft dropped bombs near the army base that resistance forces had captured on Myawaddy\u2019s outskirts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m afraid of being caught in the crossfire or bombing, and I decided to flee to Mae Sot,\u201d Ms. Ma Khin Lay Nge said. \u201cSurvival is our priority now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Since the 2021 coup, armed ethnic groups and pro-democracy rebels have formed a broad alliance to fight the junta, with growing success on the battlefield. In a sign that the junta\u2019s forces were becoming depleted, the regime announced in February that it would begin enforcing a decades-old conscription law<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n