Myanmar’s civil war reshaped in past year with coordinated offensive by powerful resistance groups

BANGKOK (AP) — Three well-armed militias launched a surprise joint offensive in northeastern Myanmar a year ago, breaking a strategic stalemate with the regime’s military with rapid gains of huge swaths of territory and inspiring others to attack around the country.

Before the offensive, the military’s control had seemed firmly ensconced with its vast superiority in troops and firepower, and aided with material support from Russia and China. But today it is increasingly on the back foot, with the loss of dozens of outposts, bases and strategic cities that even its leaders concede will be challenging to regain.

How did the offensive unfold?

The military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in February 2021, giving rise to intensified fighting with long-established armed groups associated with Myanmar’s ethnic minority groups, and sparking the formation of new pro-democracy militias.

But until the launch of Operation 1027, eponymously named for its Oct. 27 start, the military, known as the Tatmadaw, had largely been able to prevent major losses around the country.

Operation 1027 brought coordinated attacks from three of the most powerful ethnic armed groups — the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Arakan Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, together known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance — and they were able to quickly capture towns and overrun military bases and outposts along the Chinese border in northeastern Shan state.

Two weeks later the Arakan Army launched attacks in its home western state of Rakhine, and since then other militia groups and PDFs have joined in around the country.

A year later into the offensive, resistance forces now fully or partially control a vast