The junta has sharply escalated attacks on civilians since a new administration took office in the war-torn country, a conflict monitor said, even as regional governments ramp up diplomatic engagement.
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (Acled) said the onslaught was a result of the tactics deployed by Myanmar’s new military chief who took over in late March as his predecessor prepared to become the country’s president.
“Since the ruling junta in Myanmar reconfigured its military command structure in March, civilians have been subject to the military’s worsening repression and intensified aerial bombing campaign,” Acled said yesterday.
“These adjustments included the regular deployment of specialised groups of two to five jet fighters executing sustained airstrikes against single targets.”
Acled gathers data on Myanmar’s ongoing conflict from media reports and local partners, as well as reports by the UN, international monitoring groups and local human rights organisations.
Myanmar was plunged into turmoil after the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government in February 2021, sparking a civil war that has killed some 100,000 people and displaced millions.
Days before becoming president after an election that banned most opposition, Min Aung Hlaing appointed long-time loyalist and former spymaster Ye Win Oo as the military’s new commander-in-chief.
Under Oo’s command, the military has launched renewed offensives into several border regions, including a frontier area with critical rare earth deposits and other vital trade routes.
“Reprieve for civilians is unlikely as the junta focuses its efforts on consolidating control following coup leader Min Aung Hlaing’s transition from commander of the military to civilian president in April,” Acled said.
During the first half of 2026, Acled said it recorded more than a dozen mass killings, resulting in over 450 civilian fatalities, around 40% of them in Myanmar’s central dry zone known as the Anyar region.
The political transition in Myanmar has triggered a flurry of diplomacy, with Hlaing travelling to key neighbours India and China. There has also been tentative re-engagement with the 11-member Asean bloc, which barred Myanmar’s ruling generals from its summits after the coup.
Hlaing will make an official visit to Thailand on Aug 6 to 7, as he pushes for further legitimacy. — Reuters
