Across Insurgent-Controlled Myanmar, Ordinary People Face Catastrophic Bombing Raids and a Sham Poll

During the evening last month, Iang Za Kim heard blasts in a nearby village, and subsequently warplanes flying overhead. She dashed from her home to see plumes of smoke far away.

"We were horrified. We feared the regime's jets could strike us too. So we grabbed what we could – provisions and garments and escaped to the jungles encircling our village."

Iang's face quivers as she tells the events of what happened on 26 November in her community, located in Myanmar's western Chin region. She is one of thousands of civilians who've evacuated their homes in the past few weeks after the Myanmar army launched a relentless assault of aerial attacks, and a ground offensive in resistance territory across the country.

Residents of Chin state have labeled the junta's latest offensive as the fiercest it has conducted in more than three years. Countless refugees have found shelter in other regions of the state. Iang belongs to a group that entered into the Indian state of Mizoram. Now housed in a decrepit badminton court in Vaphai, the group's few belongings they were able to carry are contained in polyethylene bags.

An elderly man has had to flee his home at the age of 80, living in temporary huts in jungles for days, until at last reaching a secure location.

"We are terrified of our own government. They are exceptionally brutal. Their military has come into our and other villages in the past, they've taken citizens, tortured them, and burned down homes," he says.

It is difficult to speak to Burmese civilians freely. Myanmar's regime restricts free access in the country for foreign journalists. It took over the country in a putsch in February 2021, soon after the last election.

Civilian Toll and Targeted Attacks

During its latest offensive, the junta recently targeted a medical facility in a western state. Insurgent forces in Rakhine report at least 30 people were lost their lives and more than 70 hurt.

A human rights organization states that over recent months at least multiple schools and several churches in Chin State have been targeted by regime air raids, causing the death of 12 people comprising six children.

Verification shows the destruction of a school in a village on 13 October. Two students lost their lives as they were studying. The bombs tore through their classrooms wounding more than a dozen other students.

For a second time, Bawi Nei Lian and his young family – a wife and two young children - have been made homeless. Back in 2021, shortly after the coup, their home was razed in an air strike. They rebuilt their lives in K-Haimual village. Now they're without a home once more.

"Words fail me to explain how difficult and traumatic it is and what a difficult decision it was to make to leave. But we had to do it to stay alive," he says.

A Disputed Vote

The National League for Democracy party, which won landslides in the two elections preceding the coup, is banned from running as its key figures are detained.

"We reject this election. Because the military lacks the ability to govern our country. They only work for the gain of their top officials. When the elected administration was in power, we experienced a measure of democracy. But now all we do is grieve and lament," says the refugee.

Iang Za Kim believes the election will be rigged. "If we voted for a party not allied with the military, I believe they will falsify the outcome and claim we voted for them."

The election will be held in phases, with a result expected around the end of January. Resistance forces have declared it a pretense.

Resistance Battleground and Sacrifices

At a base of a leading insurgent force operating in the state, a vice chairman states: "This vote is only being held to extend military dictatorship. It's not about the public's voice."

He highlights the areas where the fiercest combat is continuing. "There are columns of hundreds of soldiers trying to push into the northern part of Chin state from several axes," he says. "The infantry are being backed up by air strikes, artillery fire and by UAVs."

Access to such bases is extremely rare. Situated in dense jungle highlands, it is the core of the opposition to the junta in Chin state.

Within a clinic at the base, several injured fighters had arrived overnight and had to undergo lengthy operations. Some of them have had to undergo surgeries.

Several were just youths when the coup occurred in 2021. Now young adults, they've abandoned their dreams to serve in the conflict against the junta.

"While opposing forces withdrew we ran forward and I triggered a landmine. We were injured in the explosion. Then we were attacked from the air. The airstrikes make things very difficult for us," explains a combatant. "I've lost a leg, if I must sacrifice my life I'm happy to make the sacrifice so that coming generations have a brighter future."

The effect of the ferocity of the recent campaign is visible in ward after ward at the hospital.

Yet, it's the support and grit of many thousands of young people who took up weapons that have helped the rebels make significant gains against a far stronger rival.

People including 80-year-old the elderly refugee hope that after the election, the junta will retreat, and he will be able to go back home.

"Yet I believe I will live to see democracy restored in Myanmar," he says. "I hope my children and grandchildren can see it some day."