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Sep 15, 2026

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Drone Strike Hits Yak-130 Jets at Mandalay

Resistance fighters flew fiber-optic FPV drones into Yak-130 jets parked at Tada-U Airbase. Footage appears to show one drone striking the nose of a $15 million Russian-built trainer inside a shelter. The Myingyan District Drone Strike unit says female pilots led much of the assault and that its forces hit four jets, destroying two. NUG spokesperson Nay Phone Latt said the strike killed five soldiers, including a colonel, and three resistance fighters died. The junta insisted that all six drones were intercepted and no aircraft were damaged. Mandalay International Airport was shut for two days, forcing Myanmar Airways International to divert flights to Pyin Oo Lwin.

Read more: AP News (NUG account), The Irrawaddy (attack), The Irrawaddy (airport), Al Jazeera (deaths), SOFX (drone unit)

Operation 4926 Stalls, Junta Can't Get Its Dead

The military's Operation 4926 has ground to a halt after ten days of fighting. Five columns of about 1,000 troops (total) had pushed into Sittwe, Ponnagyun and Kyaukphyu. More than 100 regime troops were reportedly killed in Ponnagyun, including two battalion commanders. "The army couldn't even retrieve its dead and wounded," a Sittwe resident said. The Arakan Army still holds 14 of Rakhine's 17 townships plus Paletwa in Chin State, leaving the junta clinging to Sittwe, Kyaukphyu and Manaung. Recent airstrikes killed at least five more civilians.

KIA Sinks Navy Convoy, Rejects Peace Talks

The Kachin Independence Army says it took 151 prisoners after ambushing a 14-vessel navy convoy on the Irrawaddy, destroying or damaging seven ships between Bhamo and Shwegu. The prisoners include 33 military family members and, incredibly, a four-month-old baby. The KIO has rejected an invitation to Naypyitaw from junta negotiator Yar Pyae and is insisting that any talks happen abroad. The regime sent another 30-vessel supply convoy from Mandalay, and the KIA says five more vessels, including two gunboats, were destroyed in Shwegu. The KNPP, KNU and Chinland Council have brushed off separate overtures too. Chinland foreign minister Sui Khar says that they’re "not genuine."

Read more: The Irrawaddy (convoy), The Irrawaddy (KIA), DVB (prisoners), BNI (rejections)

Junta Asks Interpol to Retrieve Its UN Ambo

Naypyidaw is looking to turn its five-year-old case against its UN ambassador into an international manhunt. The Foreign Ministry says that Kyaw Moe Tun's status has been "revoked and withdrawn," accused him of treason, sedition and unlawful association, and said it is working with Interpol and the US National Central Bureau to get him arrested. It also said that he misused $2.76 million AND 38,233 euros from the UN mission's bank account. None of this will immediately change his position at UN Headquarters. The Credentials Committee is expected to make a decision in November whether to keep him or replace him with the junta's nominee, retired colonel Aung Thurein. So far it has doggedly avoided the question every year since the takeover. Kyaw Moe Tun said the announcement was an indication of "how much desperation the junta is now in."

Read more: Reuters, The Irrawaddy, Asia Times, DVB, DVB

Militia Moves Scammers to Karen Battlefields

Chinese-run scam compounds that were forced out of Shwe Kokko and KK Park have regrouped and resurfaced under armed KNA escort at Maw Poe Kay, Mae La and Kyawkayhta. It’s quite the venue, since the KNU has bled for this ground over decades of war. Telegram messenger job ads are offering as much as 12,000 yuan for experienced female interpreters; it seems that the new scam targets will be Americans and Japanese. The KNU says it has objected and demands a ban on construction, but it isn’t clear if they will be able to enforce anything.

Read more: The Irrawaddy (acreage size), Karen News (relocation destinations)

aerial view of houses during daytime — Photo by Mike Swigunski on Unsplash

Min Aung Hlaing's Son Clears Monasteries for Cyber City

More than 70 monasteries, nunneries and monastic schools in Pyin Oo Lwin have been told to vacate their land by this Friday. The evictions are intended to clear space for a 10,000-acre Yadanabon Cyber City, a project that is to be overseen by Min Aung Hlaing's son Aung Pyae Sone. Officials claim that the buildings encroach on the project site, but locals say some have been there for more than 30 years. Residents suggest that a network of military officers and civil servants has already sold the land to businessmen and speculators for large sums, and more than 100 shophouses in the zone were razed on similar grounds in June.

US Accreditor Certifies Two Junta-Linked Hospitals

American Accreditation Commission International has given their accreditation to two Yangon hospitals connected to Min Aung Hlaing and others under US sanctions. It, apparently without irony, said the awards were "historic" firsts. Kan Thar Yar International Specialist Hospital is registered to Myanmar Economic Corporation, a military conglomerate that was sanctioned in 2021. Moe Kaung Treasure Maternal and Child Hospital was built by Sky One Construction, which is run by the general's son Aung Pyae Sone (same fellow from the previous story). AACI chief executive Kreso Paliska toured both sites in person before the accreditation was given. Full-page ads have appeared in the Bangkok Post, promising "the safest, most reliable hands" in Myanmar medicine.

Cambodia Endorses Min Aung Hlaing's ASEAN Bid

Min Aung Hlaing left Phnom Penh with four deals signed and something even better: Cambodia’s public rejection of any "downgrading or exclusion" of Myanmar from ASEAN. He also pitched a transport corridor from Ho Chi Minh City through Phnom Penh and Bangkok to the Dawei deep-sea port, but didn’t share any suggestion about where the money would come from to do so. Human Rights Watch said that a red-carpet reception was premature, and the International Criminal Court is still considering an arrest warrant request because of the 2017 Rohingya crackdown.

Read more: The Irrawaddy (visit), KDH News (criticism), DW (regional push), The Diplomat (court case)

Scholar Serves 100 Days in Chinese Detention

Min Zin, a naturalized US citizen and head of ISP-Myanmar, has now spent 100 days in Chinese custody on charges of espionage. He had gone to Kunming for what his think tank says was an academic workshop. Washington says the detention is wrongful, but Beijing, so far seemingly unmoved, insists that Min Zin violated its national security laws. ISP-Myanmar, naturally, is demanding his immediate release.

Wa State's Tin Mine Wakes Up

Man Maw, the Wa State mine that once supplied almost all of China's tin ore imports, is stirring again for the first time since it was shut in 2023. Satellite images show large new buildings going up and brighter nighttime activity in and around the site. Chinese customs reports show that tin ore imports from Myanmar were almost 40,000 metric tons in the first half of 2026, which is already more than in all of 2025 (although it should be said that output is still far below previous highs). Flooded shafts and depleted high-grade ore could limit the recovery. The United Wa State Army tightly restricts access; reports suggest that a fight between Wa power brokers was the original cause of the closure, but the reason for re-opening remains murky.

Post-Coup FDI Falls to $7.4 Billion Over Five Years

Foreign direct investment totaled more than $28.7 billion in the five years before the 2021 takeover, according to ISP-Myanmar. In the five years since, it has reached only $7.4 billion, less than the country pulled in during 2016 alone. Min Aung Hlaing has been courting Beijing, Moscow and New Delhi for capital since taking the presidency after a contested election.

Pandaw Cruises Returns to the Irrawaddy Delta

Pandaw Cruises is sending the RV Kanee Pandaw on its first Irrawaddy Delta run since suspended operations six years ago. The 10-night round trip from Yangon will cost around $4,700, and more than 200 passengers have already booked. Sister ship RV Kha Byoo Pandaw is expected to join in December. The UK Foreign Office's conflict advisory covers most of Myanmar but not the delta, apart from Pathein. Pandaw says it will inspect that port before departure and replace the stop if conditions look inappropriate for a stop.

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