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Headlines:
Drones Ground Kachin's Only Air Link
Resistance Commander Helicopters Over to the Other Side
Junta Selling, Beijing Not Buying
End of the Line at Ruili
119,411 Homes, 97% by the Junta
Washington's Last Envoy Tallies the Damage
Junta Counts the Votes It Already Chose
Scalpels Without Credentials
Dictator Pins Another Medal on Himself
Drones Ground Kachin's Only Air Link
FPV suicide drones hit a Myanmar National Airlines ATR-72-600 at Myitkyina Airport on February 20 while passengers were boarding for the evening flight to Mandalay, in what appears to be the first confirmed drone attack on a civilian passenger plane in the conflict. No one was hurt, but the aircraft took damage to its nose, fuselage, and tail from at least two drone impacts carrying RPG-type warheads. The junta blamed the Kachin Independence Army, which denied targeting civilian aircraft. Five carriers have now suspended all flights to Myitkyina indefinitely, cutting off the main commercial air link to Kachin State's capital. It was the second drone strike on the airport in eight days. The junta responded with renewed airstrikes across Kachin State, compounding the isolation. Drones also reached Chin State on February 23, where Border Affairs Minister Lt. Gen. Thet Naing Win survived a suicide drone strike, the latest in a string of attacks reaching senior regime officials.
Read more: The Irrawaddy, Ch-Aviation, Travel and Tour World (FPV drone coordination), Dronexl (second attack pattern)
Resistance Commander Helicopters Over to the Other Side
A junta helicopter lifted Bo Nagar out of Pale Township in mid-February with his family, one day after NUG-aligned forces attacked his Burma National Revolutionary Army bases in Sagaing Region. The defection followed months of rising tension after the NUG opened an investigation into alleged extortion, sexual violence, and the killing of a PDF member during a dispute over a firearm, while residents shared stories and even receipts from BNRA checkpoint shakedowns. The manner of his exit left Pale locals exposed. Junta airstrikes and troop deployments around Pale and Yinmabin picked up after the surrender, and the military stands to use the propaganda win in any way that it can.
Read more: Mizzima, Mizzima (social media reaction)
Junta Selling, Beijing Not Buying
More than 1,400 Kachin State residents were bused to Myitkyina University on Friday for the regime's third public hearing on the $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam, where President's Office Minister Tin Aung San pitched job creation and promised electricity would now be "prioritized for domestic consumption" rather than the original 90-10 split favoring China. Beijing's response remains cautious. China signaled it would wait for a "stable political timeframe" after regime leader Min Aung Hlaing offered the project's revival at his August meeting with Xi Jinping. China's installed generation capacity is now in excess of 3,000 GW while peak demand is roughly 1,400 to 1,600 GW. The dam, suspended since 2011, would flood an area the size of Singapore and displace more than 10,000 people.
Read more: The Irrawaddy, The Irrawaddy (Beijing's hesitation explained)
End of the Line at Ruili
China is racing to finish the 330-km Dali-Ruili Railway by 2028, with engineers now halfway through the 34.5-km Gaoligong Mountain Tunnel that will be Asia's longest. The line will cut travel time from Kunming to the border from nine hours to about 4.5, and Beijing is billing it as the anchor for a cross-border corridor all the way to the Indian Ocean. The railway ends at Ruili, where the Brotherhood Alliance now controls the border crossing and the 105-Mile Trade Zone on the other side. Junta number two Soe Win claimed during Chinese New Year celebrations in Yangon on Feb. 14 that construction of the Muse-Mandalay extension was already underway, but large stretches of the proposed route sit in ethnic armed group territory that has seen some of the fiercest fighting over the past five years.
Read more: The Irrawaddy
119,411 Homes, 97% by the Junta
Since the coup, 119,411 civilian homes have been burned across the country, with 97% torched by the junta and its affiliates, according to Data for Myanmar. Sagaing Region took the worst of it: more than 77,700 homes, over 65% of the nationwide total. Sadly, the pace is picking up, rather than slowing down. Between June and August 2025, the latest period reported, more than 2,500 homes in 81 villages went up in flames, concentrated in Kanbalu, Minhla, Chauk, Pakoku, Myingyan and Nyaung-U. The report warns the real figures are likely higher, since incidents lacking independent verification were excluded. Buthidaung Township in Rakhine saw some 3,800 homes burned in May 2024, though the responsible party remains unidentified.
Read more: Mizzima
Washington's Last Envoy Tallies the Damage
After a nearly three-year tour as America's top diplomat in Yangon, Susan Stevenson sat down to deliver her verdict on the business case for staying put. The former Charge d'Affaires walked through the full range of obstacles facing any company still operating since the 2021 coup, from currency controls and import restrictions to financial blacklisting and U.S. sanctions on military-connected entities. Parts of the private sector keep the lights on, she noted, showing what she called "clear resilience" despite the fighting, and a possibility of reputational risk. The shadow economy is growing, labor is scarce, and the country's place in Southeast Asia's China-alternative supply chains remains an open question. Stevenson retired after over 26 years at State, timing her departure with a frank assessment of what political instability means for operations on the ground.
Read more: Mizzima
Junta Counts the Votes It Already Chose
The military published full results from its pre-determined election and started assigning its own appointees to parliament, while the Union Solidarity and Development Party is trading horses with the regime to figure out what positions it gets in the coming government. The choreography comes along with what organized crime expert Jason Tower describes as deepening ties between the junta's political structure and transnational scam networks, which is playing out as Chinese authorities press the regime on the casino-fraud industry. The regime is stage-managing an election while organized crime is becoming harder to separate from governance itself.
Read more: Frontiermyanmar
Scalpels Without Credentials
Social media beauty practitioners are flooding the market with cosmetic surgery pitches, most lacking any medical training. Women are increasingly reporting health complications from botched procedures as the post-coup hospital system collapses, leaving government clinics short on medicine, equipment and staff. The regulatory vacuum means patients unfortunately discover their surgeon's “qualifications” only after something goes wrong.
Read more: Frontiermyanmar
Dictator Pins Another Medal on Himself
Min Aung Hlaing has been decorating himself with military honors at a clip that would make a Soviet general blush. The junta chief's chest now sports dozens of self-awarded medals, and The Irrawaddy's tally of his personal trophy cabinet offers a window into how the strongman uses ceremony to reinforce his grip on power. His latest additions include awards for a war he is losing and a state he seized by force.
Read more: The Irrawaddy
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
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