[Tee tiong huat]

Large numbers of junta troops advancing on Myawaddy on Thai border have not breached most anti-regime defensive lines, National Union (KNU). Regime in mid-April dispatched around 500 troops as part of the Operation Aung Zeya counteroffensive to retake Thingan Nyi Naung village and Myawaddy.

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The troops equipped with armored vehicles, tanks & artillery bridge reached Dawna hills along Asian Highway beyond Kawkareik town. The regime provided air support. Junta troops occupied Dawna hills after anti-regime forces deployed withdrew, according to a resistance fighter.

“The Karen National Liberation Army [KNLA] and Karen National Defense Organization are deployed in Thingan Nyi Naung village. It will be difficult for regime to take it,” he said.

Padoh Saw Kalel Say of KNU said junta troops are attempting to advance on other routes along Asian Highway but anti-regime forces have prepared defenses.“Most regime troops are coming by Asian Highway, others are coming from other directions. But we have made preparations,” he said.

The KNLA & resistance allies on April 5 seized a junta battalion hq in Thingan Nyi Naung, sparking regime’s Ops Aung Zeya.
Deputy junta chief Soe Win is overseeing the ops at Southeastern Command with 55 Divi troops from northern Shan State to Karen State via Mon State.

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/war-again...s-knu.html

Junta troops at the Taw Naw waterfall in the Dawna hills. / The Irrawaddy

The regime also reinforced Mon State with troops arriving from northern Shan State, according to the Mon State Defense Force chairman, Thiri Mon Chan. The regime also carried out counter offensives in Kawkareik & Kawbein towns along Gyaing River. It has told displaced residents to return, & provided them with supplies as psychological warfare, said residents.

The regime retook Infantry Battalion 275 in Myawaddy with assistance from the military-affiliated Karen State Border Guard Force. The sudden recapture of the battalion misled people about the anti-regime forces, observers say.

Former major Tin Lin Aung, a defector from the military, urged people to support anti-regime forces despite junta ploys. “Defense against counteroffensive depends on access to weapons, ammunition & food,” he said.

The govt still has 3 key hilltop bases in Lay Kay Kaw, Waw Lay and Thae Thaw Bo in the area where KNU Brigade 6 is active, bases are cut off by anti-regime forces & junta reinforcements cannot reach them, said Tin Lin Aung. Anti-regime forces still retain territory by ambushing junta reinforcements, said military analysts.

https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/war-again...s-knu.html