The regime set up five military outposts along Mt. Mel, between Kyeinchaung and Khamaungdaw villages, to defend its Western Command headquarters against the AA onslaught, according to a military source.

The military is frequently firing heavy weapons into the villages bordering Sittwe and Ponnagyun townships, causing panic among residents.

Through local ward and village administrators, the regime has barred residents from going out to sea and fishing, with no indication of when the ban might be lifted.

India reopened the Mizoram-Paletwa route on July 19, but only food supplies are currently allowed to be transported, according to merchants.

Civilian casualties were reported after an artillery shell fired from the Maung Shwe Lay naval base about 20 miles from Thandwe fell and exploded near the village on the evening of July 22.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and a Mogok-based unit of the People’s Defence Force (PDF) have reportedly seized a junta camp inside a prison near Panmahteik in the eastern part of Mogok, Mandalay Region.

Five days after the regime announced that U Myint Swe could not perform his duties due to a neurological disorder on July 18, Min Aung Hlaing declared himself acting president of Myanmar.

Five local people including a pregnant woman from Abel Village and two others from Jeittaw Village were killed in a junta artillery assault on July 19.

USDP spokesman U Hla Thein said so at a debate titled and unironically punctuated as “Federalism or Terrorism?”, organised by the regime on Sunday.

The Arakkha Army (AA) is focused on attacking the Maung Shwe Lay naval base in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township as the regime reinforces the naval base by sea.

The bodies of seven ethnic Khami men from Gandaryone displacement camp in Buthidaung Township, Arakan State, who were brutally killed by armed Muslim men, were discovered late last week, the Arakkha Army (AA) said in a statement on Sunday.

Due to frequent artillery strikes in Taungup Township, as well as intense and ongoing fighting in nearby Thandwe Township, parents of students said that forcing their children to go to school is a safety concern.

Some 50 junta soldiers and police raided Maungdaw’s Myoma Ward and abducted the 10 men and one minor at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, a source said.

Most of the missing civilians are from Thandwe and Ngapali towns. They include 18 men, 17 women, three children, and seven others whose identities are unknown.

The Lawngtlai District Court in India's Mizoram state issued a ban on the export of fuel from the district to neighbouring countries including Myanmar.

"The regime seems to be preparing a defence to defend against the AA offensive. Junta soldiers have reportedly taken positions atop buildings in downtown Taungup," said a local man in Taungup.

Fierce fighting has been reported near Ann, Arakan State, after the Arakkha Army (AA) launched an offensive against the Myanmar military’s Ann-based Western Command on Wednesday.

Seasonal crops such as mangoes, rambutan and pineapples have been fetching good prices in conflict-torn Arakan State and sales are brisk compared with last year, according to fruit growers.

Vessels carrying about 1 billion kyats worth of goods were stopped by junta soldiers at a jetty in Pathein Township in the first week of July.