The Karen National Union (KNU) and its allies seized Myanmar junta’s Hteekhee base on the Thai border in Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region, on Friday morning while regime troops participated in Russia’s 80th Victory Day military parade in Moscow.
It was the last junta base in Hteekhee, a border trade hub. The KNU lost the area to a previous military regime during a major offensive in 1997.
The two KNU’s armed wings, the Karen National Liberation Army and Karen National Defense Organization, led other resistance groups to overcome around 150 regime troops defending the base, according to the KNU.
The KNU’s Myeik District secretary, Saw Ehna Doh, told The Irrawaddy that Hteekhee is a strategic link in the trade route between Dawei and Thailand.
“The Dawei deep-sea port project that was handed over to Russia is connected to the Hteekhee border trade route. It was crucial for the regime. The victory undermines security for the whole port project,” he said.
The armed groups first attacked the base on May 2.
The Force for Federal Democracy (FFD) that took part in the fighting told The Irrawaddy on Friday that a quarter of the Hteekhee base is in Thailand, which complicated the operation.
“We captured the base using drone strikes and 120mm mortars. Many of our drones were destroyed by jammers at the base,” FFD spokesman Ko Aung Aung told The Irrawaddy.
Four transport helicopters airlifted in reinforcements, weapons and ammunition to Hteekhee during the fighting but resistance weapons destroyed junta artillery at the base before the attack, according to the FFD.
On April 19, the groups seized the nearby Hteehta base and around 30 regime troops, including a junta strategist who commanded the base.
Ko Aung Aung said: “After Hteehta fell last month, the junta’s coastal regional commander, Brigadier General Kyaw Kyaw Han, vowed to annihilate KNU Brigade 4. He sent four helicopters to drop reinforcements to Hteekhee but his base was defeated.”
The KNU also claimed its forces seized a junta base in Hpa-an District, Karen State, on Friday morning.
Since the 2021 coup, the KNU, the country’s oldest revolutionary group, has trained and armed several thousand anti-regime activists. It has also helped the civilian National Unity Government by helping with the formation of People’s Defense Forces.
The KNU and its allies are fighting the regime in Karen and Mon states and Tanintharyi and Bago regions and have attacked the capital, Naypyitaw.
