News Monitor #13
JULY 2026

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NEWS ROUNDUP

• The scam industry continued to grow despite demolition of buildings used for operations. New centers have been detected in Shan State and inland in Karen State, signs that the industry is capable of swift relocation following crackdowns.

• Over 500 Rohingya were feared dead in two shipwrecks off Myanmar. The vessels had departed from Rakhine State in late June.

• ASEAN Foreign Ministers met with their Myanmar counterpart in person for the first time since the 2021 coup, an informal engagement signalling the cautious but growing willingness in the region for engagement with the junta following the 2025-2026 elections.

HUMAN RIGHTS & SECURITY

• Starlink connections were disrupted in communities across multiple states amid scam centers crackdowns, with troubling humanitarian impacts. Service providers estimate that more than 20 percent of the Starlink terminals currently active in Myanmar have been deactivated.

• Myanmar Internet Project led on a joint statement revealing the inadvertent harms on communities, following the deactivation of Starlink terminals. 

• In Karen State, thousands of foreign scam workers were observed relocating to areas controlled by the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA), a junta-aligned militia, due to junta airstrikes in Myawaddy. Dozens of buildings used for scam operations were demolished in the Shwe Koko hub in Karen, but the industry continued to grow “exponentially.” 

• Suspected Chinese telecom scam operators were spotted by locals moving into southern Shan State.

• Anti-scam efforts expanded globally, with Thailand launching a ten-country intelligence-sharing platform to combat transnational call-center scams, excluding Myanmar as a founding member. The EU announced new sanctions to target scam centers, including against the DKBA.

• The fear of conscription continued to cause disruptions around the country. These range from fish market labor shortages in Yangon due to fearful workers fleeing to mass arrests of youth in Rakhine, Myawaddy, and other resistance-controlled areas. For the first time, the junta admitted to the practice of abduction for conscription.

• Dozens of anti-junta political prisoners in Yangon’s notorious Insein Prison were badly beaten, reflecting patterns of systematic abuse.

ARMED CONFLICT

• Chin State: In early July, urban combat in Thantlang Township raged, with reports of the junta deploying chemical munitions. A resistance coalition united against junta advances in the south. Thousands of newly displaced people in Tonzang Township faced a severe humanitarian crisis. The junta deployed 1,000 reinforcements after recent losses.

• Mon State: Mon State was not a high-intensity frontline in July, but clashes occurred across the region and tensions were high. People’s Defence Forces (PDFs) staged a guerrilla attack on a junta outpost in Ye Township on July 18.

• Kachin State: Two civilians were killed in Hpakant after an intoxicated Kachin Independence Army (KIA) soldier opened fire. Thirty civilians, including children, were abducted by junta-aligned militia. Clashes between the junta and the KIA escalated across multiple townships.

• Kayin/Karen State: Junta bombing campaigns on multiple villages and religious establishments killed two women on July 13 and a Buddhist abbot on July 28. On July 9, the junta sustained heavy casualties in Myawaddy, where 2,000 troops attacked resistance forces from three directions.

• Kayah/Karenni State: The junta bombed a camp for displaced persons, killing a civilian and damaging structures. Ongoing clashes near Nanmaikhon continued into the second month..

• Rakhine State: A junta airstrike on an Arakan Army (AA) POW camp in Maungdaw Township killed four people on July 2. Junta naval and air attacks continued across the state, affecting southern townships including Ponnagyun, Thandwe, and Gwa, where multiple civilians were injured and killed. Bombardments continued during heavy flooding.

• Shan State: Tensions rose between resistance groups Kokang Army (MNDAA) and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) after armed confrontations. Civilians were beaten and abducted in Ywangan Township during violent junta crackdowns. Resistance forces were expected to join peace talks with the junta.

• Ayeyarwady Division: The junta launched an offensive to reclaim the Pathein-Monywa highway, an area contested by the Arakan Army (AA). On July 30, the AA denied the junta’s claim that dozens of AA and PDF soldiers had surrendered.

• Bago Division: The junta conducted an aerial bombing on a village in Yetashay Township on July 29 despite no active fighting in the area, killing eight, and conducted a drone attack on a monastery on July 7. On July 25, PDFs attacked a junta column in Padaung Township, the location of a junta weapons factory. The AA continued its expansion after capturing three new frontline positions in June.

• Magway Division: The region continued to be an epicenter of violence, with 100,000 civilians newly displaced according to OCHA. Junta forces advanced on Myaing Township during the last week of the month, conducting over 140 airstrikes in six days, burning villages, and battling PDF forces. Junta forces executed 20 PDF members after capturing them alive.

• Mandalay Division: On July 8, the Mandalay PDF announced the completion of a four-month rebuilding process; the following week, resistance forces resumed attacks north of the city and expanded offensives into the south.

• Sagaing Division: Eight resistance fighters were killed in infighting between allied forces. The junta claimed to have retaken control of a key trade route. Junta units withdrew from villages in Indaw after a brief occupation. Fighting along the Mandalay–Myitkyina highway killed seven civilians, junta forces shelled villages by river vessel in Phaungbyin Township, and airstrikes killed civilians in Wenglet Township.

• Tanintharyi Division: Junta forces embarked on clearance operations to make way for the Russian-backed Dawei Special Economic Zone project to resume, with more than 500 troops, forcing villagers to labor and arresting others to be used as human shields

• Yangon Division: Arbitrary arrests by the junta escalated, likely for forced conscription.

HUMANITARIAN, ECONOMIC & SOCIAL CONDITIONS

• OCHA reported that, in the first quarter of 2026, aid reached only one-third of the 4.9 million people targeted nationwide - though 16 million are thought to need assistance. OCHA cited funding shortfalls and lack of humanitarian access.

• The junta forced civilians seeking refuge in Shan State to return to unsafe areas in Karenni State.

• At least 150,000 civilians required urgent humanitarian support in Pakokku in Magway.

INTERNATIONAL AND REGIONAL AND
DIPLOMACY

• On July 12, ASEAN foreign ministers met in person with their Myanmar counterpart for the first time since the 2021 coup. The informal meeting was seen as signalling a shift toward more direct engagement despite continued disagreements.
  

• Thailand positioned itself as a bridge for the ASEAN proceedings and met with several resistance groups on July 13 who refused to meet with the junta. ASEAN’s Special Envoy on Myanmar also met with the groups.
  

• On July 21, the ASEAN foreign ministers agreed to develop benchmarks for measuring Myanmar’s progress on its long-stalled Five-Point Consensus peace plan. While ASEAN members reaffirmed the Five-Point Consensus, the junta reiterated its rejection of the plan. 

• Min Aung Hlaing visited Laos on his first trip to an ASEAN member state as “president” of Myanmar. The junta leader also announced plans to visit Thailand in August.

• The junta lobbed personal attacks on UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Julie Bishop in response to her recent comments that conditions in Myanmar have deteriorated since the sham elections.

• The U.S. was accused of cooperating with junta officials by meeting in Tokyo to discuss scam centers. Twenty five organizations issued a joint statement, saying the meeting risked legitimizing the junta.

ROHINGYA CRISIS

• Two boats carrying more than 500 refugees capsized in the Bay of Bengal, killing everyone on board after departing from Rakhine State. Witnesses said the passengers were trafficking victims of the AA, which forced the boats to depart despite bad weather.

• Heavy monsoon rains in the Bangladesh refugee camps on July 4 killed nine, including several children.

• Rohingya residents in Myanmar accused local administrators appointed by the AA of extorting money and confiscating Rohingya-owned land.

• In Malaysia, at least nine schools for Rohingya children faced closures amid a surge in online hate speech and waning public support for Malaysia to continue hosting the large refugee population. More than 100 Rohingya claimed to have been arbitrarily arrested at their homes in Penang, but were later released.

• Myanmar agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya refugees from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

DOMESTIC POLITICS AND DIALOGUE

• The junta removed numerous statues of Burmese independence hero Aung San and denied a request from the ASEAN Special Envoy to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.

• The junta’s National Solidarity and Peacemaking Negotiation Committee (NSPNC) and the New Mon State Party (NMSP) met in Yangon for preliminary talks on July 2. NMSP is a divided army, with one faction holding a ceasefire with the junta and another fighting it.

• The junta’s “100-Day Peace Plan” concluded on July 31 and was widely regarded as a failure. The junta claimed to have met with 13 resistance groups during this period, but talks do not seem to have been substantive. During a meeting with the Ta’ang National LIberation Army (TNLA), which signed a ceasefire with the junta last year, the Ta’ang representatives called for a new self-administrated Ta’ang State.

BUSINESS AND TRADE

• A Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) investigation revealed that China is helping the junta build a jet fuel refinery in Thanlyin Township, Yangon. The facility is intended to produce jet A-1 aviation fuel for use in airstrikes.

• India and Myanmar deepened cooperation and trade relations in the rare earths sector following recent summits.

• Rare earth mines were detected in TNLA strongholds near the China border, potentially generating revenues for the TNLA to rebuild its military strength and impacting the durability of its ceasefire with the junta.

ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

• The monsoon season wreaked havoc across the country, with hundreds of buildings damaged in the south. Floods submerged 70 villages in Rakhine State and left the population in desperate need of food and water. Floods killed at least three people in Chin and Rakhine States on July 11. Eight civilians were killed in a landslide in Mon state on July 19.

• Large plots of farmland in Mon State have been left uncultivated this season, with farmers citing increasing production costs and financial losses.

• China called for a joint investigation by Thailand and Myanmar into the heavy metal contamination of the Mekong River.

REPORTING AND ANALYSIS

• The monitoring group Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), which tallies media reports of violence, announced that the number of conflict-related fatalities since the 2021 military coup had surpassed 100,000.

• A coalition of civil society organizations released a new report on aid weaponization by the junta in the country’s Dry Zone.

• An article released from the think tank Jamestown discussed the AA’s stature as Myanmar’s most powerful and effective resistance group.

• An in-depth article in Myanmar Now shares first-hand accounts of why Myanmar’s resistance continues the work to defeat the junta.

• A Pulitzer Center Rainforest Investigations Network report explored the impacts of growing global demand for rare earths on armed conflict in Myanmar as armed groups compete to control mining operations and extract resources.

• The Special Advisory Council of Myanmar (SAC-M), a group of independent experts, argued that ASEAN’s diplomatic stance has allowed the junta to ignore the bloc’s Five-Point Consensus and that strict enforcement is now needed.

• Karen Human Rights Group released a report documenting women's experiences navigating the compounding challenges of displacement and insecurity in Southeast Myanmar.

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