[Tee tiong huat]

Myanmar anti-coup forces target Mandalay in struggle to oust military. Trained and guided by ethnic armed groups, Myanmar’s volunteer fighting forces are challenging the generals’ grip.
Myanmar’s 2nd-biggest city is beginning to feel like a city under siege, while armed groups might be at the gates of Mandalay, most residents do not consider them as their enemy.

“I’ve lived in Singu since I was born and we’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Tun, a 47-year-old resident of a small town in the Mandalay region, roughly 80km (50 miles) north of the city. He asked to be identified by only part of his name for security reasons.

Most residents didn’t flee the town be'cos we had no experience with war. When fighting got more intense near town, we understood we couldn’t stay here.” Myanmar’s borderlands, home to many of country’s ethnic minorities, have been ravaged by conflict for decades, mostly Bamar areas in the heart of the country had not seen conflict since World War II. That all changed when military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected govt in 2021, plunging the country into a political crisis & civil war. Since then Myanmar military has suffered stunning defeats.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/23...t-military