The Myanmar military will continue to lose on the battlefield due to low morale and weak combat skills, according to a regime military officer who recently surrendered to the Arakan Army (AA).
Lieutenant Colonel Kyaw Kyaw Thet commanded Strategic Team 992, formed under Light Infantry Division (LID) 99 and based in Yamethin Township, Mandalay Region.
The colonel and 20 troops—all that was left of his unit of over 360 soldiers—surrendered to the AA on Jan. 31 after the unit was defeated in battle by the ethnic armed organization in Ngape Township, Magwe Region.
In a video released by a local Burmese-language media outlet on Feb. 11, Lt-Col Kyaw Kyaw Thet stated, “Our military has poor training, and the troops have low fighting spirit and weak combat skills. They also lack strong morale. Because of this, the military will not only lose to the AA, but will continue to be defeated in all battles, everywhere.”
AA spokesperson Khaing Thukha confirmed to The Irrawaddy that the video footage, initially shared on social media by Khit Thit Media, is genuine, stating it was obtained from an AA officer. He declined further comment.
From Dec. 31 to Jan. 12, the strategic team underwent specialized combat training, including instruction in using the MA-7 extended-range mortar, at the No. 3 Basic Military Training School in Ngape, the detained regime officer said.
Following this training, Lt-Col Kyaw Kyaw Thet led the 360-plus-member Strategic Team 992, comprising troops from various battalions under LID 99, to the Padan Village-tract area in the township, which borders Rakhine State’s Ann Township, he said.
Two days after the strategic team arrived in Padan, AA forces attacked the Payakone Pagoda area, forcing the unit to retreat to a location known as Point 1455. Clashes continued over the following days, and Strategic Teams 991 and 993 were also deployed to the area.
However, Strategic Team 992 and the other two teams suffered heavy casualties. According to Lt-Col Kyaw Kyaw Thet’s video account, his team alone lost a hundred soldiers in the initial clashes, with another hundred injured. They lacked sufficient medicine and medical equipment to adequately treat the wounded, he said.
“On Jan. 31, I was injured by an artillery shell fired by our own forces while we were retreating from advancing AA troops in the Gote See Yoe Village-tract area,” Kyaw Kyaw Thet said.
He added that his team had been scattered, leaving him with about 20 other soldiers, whom he led to a new location, Point 1399.
“There, I began contacting and meeting with AA forces. AA officers told me to surrender calmly, and we ultimately did,” he recalled.
Since October 2023, the AA, with its partners in the Brotherhood Alliance of ethnic armed organizations, has liberated much of northern Shan State through Operation 1027.
The AA has also seized 14 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships and Paletwa Township in southern Chin State, after expanding the operation to its home state of Rakhine in November 2023.
Alongside allied forces, the AA has recently expanded its operations from Rakhine into Ayeyarwady Region and is advancing into border areas of Magwe Region, such as Ngape Township, and Bago Region.
In recent months, the junta has attempted to repulse these offensives by mounting operations from positions along the Ann-Padan Road and surrounding areas.
