Myanmar Spring Chronicle – Scenes from May 14
(MoeMaKa), May 15, 2026
Junta Pressures Residents to Rebuild Damaged Homes in Kawkareik
Reports say that Myanmar’s military junta is pressuring residents of Kawkareik to demolish and rebuild homes damaged during years of fighting, several months after the regime regained control of the town in 2025.
Kawkareik, which saw town-seizure battles involving the KNU/KNLA and allied resistance groups from 2022 through late 2024, was eventually brought back under junta control. Following that, the military authorities have reportedly begun forcing residents to clear away destroyed buildings and reconstruct their homes.
Located along the Myawaddy–Hpa-An border trade route in Karen State, Kawkareik is one of the region’s major commercial towns. Since fighting first erupted there in 2022, and especially during the intense urban battles of late 2023 and throughout 2024, thousands of homes were destroyed by fires, artillery shelling, and airstrikes.
Kawkareik sits at the entrance to the Asia Highway connecting Myawaddy and Kawkareik across the Dawna mountain range, a strategically important trade corridor. Because of its commercial importance, resistance forces repeatedly attempted to capture the town after the 2021 military coup.
The heaviest clashes occurred between late 2023 and early 2024, causing widespread destruction in residential neighborhoods due to fires, artillery attacks, and airstrikes. In April 2024, the junta managed to re-establish control over the town.
Although relatively few residents had returned to live in Kawkareik, the reopening of the Asia Highway recently appears to have prompted the junta to push for reconstruction by ordering damaged homes to be cleared and rebuilt.
Reports also state that local junta administrators have told residents they would receive only minimal assistance for reconstruction — specifically 15 roofing sheets and five bags of cement per household.
Many residents displaced to other towns have still not returned. While the Thaningnyinaung–Kawkareik section of the Asia Highway was recently reopened, cross-border trade itself has not yet resumed.
Among all the urban battles fought in Karen State over the past five years, the battle for Kawkareik was the largest. Although resistance groups captured various military outposts, battalion bases, and operational headquarters elsewhere, Kawkareik was the largest town involved in such fighting.
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Junta Strategy of Isolation Emerging in Central Myanmar and Western Regions
Another major issue today concerns signs that the military junta’s strategy of cutting off and isolating resistance-held regions is becoming increasingly clear, particularly in central Myanmar’s dry zone as well as border areas adjoining Chin and Rakhine states.
A recent DVB report stated that the junta has regained control over nearly all PDF-controlled areas in Myingyan District. Following the military coup, areas such as Myingyan, Pakokku, and Myaung became early strongholds of LPDF and PDF resistance forces.
Within Myingyan District, areas such as Natogyi, Taungtha, and Nganzun border Sagaing Region and had seen coordinated resistance activities with forces operating in Sagaing.
Recently, after re-establishing control over much of the eastern bank of the Ayeyarwady River in Mandalay Region, the junta has reportedly launched offensives and established military positions aimed at cutting off western territories connected to Myingyan District, Yaw, Saw, Pakokku, and Gangaw areas.
At the same time, while the junta is facing intense resistance from the Arakan Army (AA) and allied local PDF forces fighting westward from Rakhine State toward Magway and Bago regions, it has also deployed hundreds to thousands of troops in offensives across central Myanmar, including Mandalay, Sagaing, and northern Magway regions.
The military is simultaneously trying to defend arms factories located along the western Bago Yoma mountain range in Bago and Magway regions, while also attempting to control transportation routes linking Chin and Rakhine states.
It is becoming increasingly evident that the junta is attempting to sever and control road connections running through Yaw, Saw, Mindat, and Matupi into Rakhine State.
In Chin State, after recently retaking Falam, the junta is also deploying large military columns to regain control over routes leading toward northern Chin areas such as Tedim.
As the junta gradually regains control over parts of central Myanmar, its broader strategy appears aimed at preventing western resistance groups — including Chin revolutionary forces and the AA in Rakhine — from maintaining connections with resistance forces in eastern regions.
To counter this strategy, ethnic armed organizations and NUG-aligned PDF forces urgently need to coordinate and respond more effectively.
Losing a town or territory may not by itself represent a decisive change, but if the resistance fails to disrupt and break the junta’s emerging strategic isolation plan, coordination and joint operations among revolutionary forces could become increasingly difficult in the near future.