As fighting intensifies between Myanmar’s military and ethnic rebel groups, civilians are being forced to flee their homes to Thailand and India. A humanitarian crisis with regional implications could erupt if the trend continues.
With major ethnic armed groups vowing to resist the military’s deadly crackdown on dissent, Myanmar is on the cusp of civil war and further violence.
The Myanmar military’s bombing of civilian areas in Karen State represents a major escalation in the conflict with Karen ethnic armed forces. The attacks seem to indicate that the junta will try to end the country’s long-running civil wars through brute force, despite decades of evidence that this is likely impossible.