Myanmar Spring Chronicle – January 19 Scenes
MoeMaKa, January 20 2023
Battles in Katha Township with 7 people killed by aerial bombardment; Relationship between Myanmar military and Thai Army
The VOA Myanmar news agency reported that 7 civilians were killed by the military council’s aerial bombardment in Moe Tar Lay Village in Katha Township, and another news report stated that 8 people were killed.
It is said that the village was bombed during a battle between the military council forces and joint forces of the ABSDF and PDF about 5 miles away from Moe Tar Lay Village. It hit the house where those returning from the charity event were sheltering and killed at least 7 people in one place.
It may be possible that the military council troops assumed that the villages where the civilians lived and the groups of villagers who were sheltering were the People’s Defense Forces opposing them, and they intentionally targeted and bombed the crowds. However, the military council troops targeted and attacked the ordinary civilians on the ground who fled when they heard the sound of the aircraft, and the groups of people returning from the charity event.
As for the military council, it has been seen in the news that during the battle with the PDF forces, in which the local residents of the villages were involved, they arrested, tortured, and killed the normal, unarmed villagers, assuming that they were PDFs. In an air attack like this, civilians who are not related to the armed forces or to the battle are killed.
Since the middle of 2021, the military council has been attacking, arresting, torturing, and killing civilians without considering the deaths of unrelated civilians in order to gain military advantage.
These actions to gain an advantage may have military advantages in some areas, but in terms of organization, they have had the opposite effect. Arrests, killings, and burning houses, regardless of whether the locals are members of the armed forces or ordinary civilians, will increase the opposition and make it easier for anti-military council forces to recruit more armed members.
On the other hand, it is true that the PDF forces have the need to arm the people they have recruited, the need for funds to fight the war, and the need for military experience and training.
The next piece of news for today is the news that Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing and the Thai Army Chief of Defense met in Ngapali, Rakhine State, and held a regular meeting between the two armies. The 8th high-ranking meeting between the 2 armies of Thailand and Myanmar took place at Ngapali beach in Thandwe, where they discussed border issues and the framework of relations between the two armies.
Although the details of the relationship between the Thai Army and the Myanmar military have not been released, there are examples of the Thai Army ignoring the fact that the junta’s military operations and airstrikes accidentally crossed the border during the fighting between the ethnic armed groups and the junta troops on the Thai-Myanmar border.
The Myanmar military, on the other hand, would not want Thailand to accept the opposition NUG and other opposition politicians who fled to Thailand following the military coup, but Thailand does not want to damage its relations with Western countries.
Thailand is maintaining multi-faceted relationships based on interests rather than principles.