Border region between Thailand, left. Myanmar, centre, and Laos, right. File
| Photo Credit: AP
Myanmar’s military claimed on Wednesday (May 20, 2026) to have recaptured a town on the Thai border, expanding the frontier trade crossings it claims to control in the grinding civil war.
The southern Myanmar border town of Mawtaung is a relatively minor trading post, transiting $26.7 million of freight in the 2023-24 financial year, according to Myanmar official statistics.
But its capture would represent another boost for the military, adding to a string of recent victories against ethnic minority armies and pro-democracy guerrillas it has warred with since staging a 2021 coup.
Myanmar state media said the military lost control of Mawtaung in Tanintharyi region in November, but retook it on Tuesday (May 19, 2026) after a two-week counter-offensive.
The battle included more than 200 “major and minor clashes”, killing at least 24 opposition fighters, according to The Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Some military members “also heroically sacrificed their lives”, it said, without specifying the death toll.
“Cross-border trade flows and transport activities between the two countries via the Tanintharyi-Mawtaung route will be able to resume,” added the newspaper.
Civil war has engulfed Myanmar since the military coup five years ago deposed the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, ending a decade-long experiment with democracy.
In late 2023 a combined rebel offensive put the military on the back foot, but after the campaign stalled, the armed forces have more recently seized the initiative.
The military this month claimed to retake a key northern highway that leads towards the Chinese border, and last month staged a ceremony celebrating the recapture of the road towards the busiest trade crossing with Thailand.
Two ethnic minority armies which were key to the 2023 offensive have signed Beijing-brokered truces, leaving lesser-trained and worse-equipped pro-democracy partisans exposed on the battlefield.
There are also signs the pro-democracy movement is in danger of being politically outmanoeuvred.
After five years of martial rule, the junta oversaw a tightly restricted election excluding detained Suu Kyi’s party and returning a walkover win in January for its allies in civilian politics.
Lawmakers elected coup-leader Min Aung Hlaing to serve as civilian President — evidence, democracy monitors say, that the poll was a charade designed to whitewash his continuing rule.
Despite criticism of the election, there are signs some nations in the region are now willing to ramp up diplomatic engagement, providing de facto recognition to the new administration.
Published – May 21, 2026 04:50 am IST
