The ethnic Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) and allied resistance groups claimed to have seized the junta military’s North Eastern Command headquarters in northern Shan State’s capital Lashio on Thursday morning.
It is the first military regional command headquarters to be seized by anti-regime resistance forces, marking a major milestone in Myanmar’s fight against the regime since it grabbed power in a coup in early 2021.
One of 14 junta military regional commands scattered across the country, the North Eastern Command oversees military operations across northern Shan State, including areas near the Chinese border.
The MNDAA on Thursday announced it had taken control of the command headquarters after 23 days of fighting in what it called a “historic victory.”
Lashio itself has yet to be completely seized, however, as clashes are still going on in parts of the city, sources close to resistance forces on the ground told The Irrawaddy.
Maung Saungkha, the founder of the Bamar People’s Liberation Army, which is fighting alongside the MNDAA, wrote on his Facebook on Thursday that the resistance groups only needed to finish seizing a few remaining junta positions and to capture regime forces trying to flee the city.
The fall of the junta’s North Eastern Command, the regime’s stronghold in northern Shan State, leaves the junta’s garrison town of Pyin Oo Lwin, home to its Defense Services Academy, vulnerable to resistance attack. The academy is Myanmar’s answer to West Point.
Alongside several resistance groups, the MNDAA, a member of the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armies that launched the highly successful Operation 1027 offensive in northern Shan State in October last year, resumed its attacks on frontline junta bases and military battalions defending Lashio on July 3.
It took just a little over three weeks for the ethnic alliance and allied resistance forces to seize around five junta battalion headquarters and frontline bases in and around Lashio.
A total of 317 junta soldiers including a lieutenant colonel, two majors and five army captains from regime bases defending Lashio surrendered to the MNDAA on Sunday, the ethnic army said.
The city is almost empty as most residents fled in the early days of the resistance operation, but some people remain trapped there, according to local rescue groups.
Meanwhile, fierce clashes have broken out in Hsipaw, Kyaukme, Nawnghkio and Mongmit townships in northern Shan and Singu, Madaya and Mogoke townships in northern Mandalay Region, where the Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA)—another member of the Brotherhood Alliance—are fighting alongside resistance groups including People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) under the command of the civilian National Unity Government (NUG). They resumed fighting on June 25 as part of Phase 2 of Operation 1027.
The TNLA and PDF groups took complete control of Mogoke, Myanmar’s major ruby hub, in northern Mandalay Region on Wednesday after a month of fighting against junta forces.
As part of Operation 1027, Mandalay PDF and allied resistance groups have also taken complete control of Singu Township, 91 km north of Myanmar’s second-biggest city Mandalay, where the headquarters of the junta’s Central Command is based.
Mandalay PDF and allied resistance groups have also managed to seize around 30 junta bases including the junta’s Air Defense Battalion Headquarters in Madaya Township next to Mandalay city. With the PDF attacks threatening Central Command, the regime has tightened security in Mandalay city.
Adding to the junta’s worries, the TNLA and allied resistance groups including Mandalay PDF have taken complete control of northern Shan State’s Nawnghkio Township, neighboring Pyin Oo Lwin.
The TNLA and PDF groups have also taken control of Kyaukme and continue to attack regime bases outside the town. Kyaukme is located next to Nawnghkio.
Since the resumption of Operation 1027 on June 25, the ethnic alliance and allied resistance groups have seized around 90 junta bases including around 10 battalion headquarters and the North Eastern Command, and have taken control of five towns in northern Shan and northern Mandalay.
However, towns under the control of the ethnic alliance and PDFs are at risk of being bombarded by the junta as it seeks to avenge its losses. Military-backed pro-junta Telegram channels are eagerly urging the military regime to incinerate all the towns it has lost, by bombing them from the air.
Together with several resistance groups, the Brotherhood Alliance launched Operation 1027 in northern Shan State in October last year, seizing hundreds of junta bases, command centers and 24 military battalion headquarters as well as around 20 towns and vital trade routes with China in its first phase.
The operation was halted on Jan. 10 after the ethnic alliance agreed to a China-brokered ceasefire with the regime, but fighting resumed last month after the ceasefire collapsed.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story mistakenly stated that the number of junta military regional commands across the country is 13.
