Regime making military moves to retake AA-held Ponnagyun

By Admin 29 Jul 2025

DMG Newsroom

29 July 2025, Sittwe

Myanmar's military regime is planning an offensive to retake the town of Ponnagyun in Arakan State, which is under the control of the Arakan Army (AA), according to military sources.

The junta has been redeploying troops and reinforcing the Zawmadat, Gantgawkyun and Kyauktan Chay military outposts on the border of Sittwe and Ponnagyun townships, said a military source.

"The military regime has been heavily reinforcing military outposts on the Sittwe-Ponnagyun border and is preparing to launch an offensive against Ponnagyun Township. The military regime is also reinforcing military forces in Arakan State, intending to launch an offensive against the lost territories, as it did in northern Shan [State] and Mandalay," the military source explained.

The regime has been redeploying troops along the Sittwe-Ponnagyun border since July 20, and has been shelling villages along the border with heavy weapons.

Some local residents who have returned to villages such as Ai Din, Kywehtoe, Kuntaung, Padetha, and Hsin Inn Gyi in Ponnagyun Township are fleeing their homes once again.

"There is a military standoff between the Myanmar military and the AA on the Sittwe-Ponnagyun border. There are reports that the military regime is reinforcing its forces and may launch an offensive. Some villagers in some villages on the Sittwe-Ponnagyun border are also being evacuated," said a local man.

The situation on the Sittwe frontline is tense, but no serious fighting has yet occurred.

Since mid-July, the junta has also been making military preparations in Sittwe, the Arakan State capital and one of the only remaining towns it holds in the state.

Myanmar's military regime, which has lost about 100 towns to resistance forces, is using all its might to retake control of those areas, with some success.

The regime is carrying out offensives in northern Shan and Kachin states, and Mandalay and Sagaing regions, and is also attempting to reinforce positions in Ayeyarwady Region by river route.

"The military regime wants to do the same in Arakan State as it did in Southern and Northern Shan State," said Zin Yaw, a captain of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). "The military regime is reinforcing its forces in the military camps near Ponnagyun Township, perhaps to prepare for the election, as they are trying to regain control of Ponnagyun Township, one of the townships they lost to the AA."

He continued that the situation in Arakan State is different than those in northern Shan State and Mandalay Region, and would pose challenges to the military in the role of aggressor attempting to retake territory from the AA.

The AA has only Sittwe, Kyaukphyu, and Manaung townships left to seize in Arakan State after capturing the state's other 14 townships, but has not yet launched major offensives to take control of those areas.