Monsoon make-or-break for junta

Gaining ground: A file photo of a soldier of the KNLA burning Myanmar’s national flag at a military base at Thing Naga Nyi Naung village on the outskirts of Myawaddy. — Reuters

In the jungles of southeastern Myanmar’s Dawna Hills, rebels from an armed ethnic group are fighting to hold back columns of reinforcements sent by the country’s ruling junta to try to reclaim Myawaddy, a critical trading outpost on the Thai border.

What happens in the next few weeks in the scramble for Myawaddy and other strategic locations in Myanmar could determine the next phase of a bloody conflict that has dragged on for more than three years and ultimately dictate the fate of the junta.