Myanmar’s military conducted air strikes on Sunday targeting ethnic rebels in Karen state, as fresh fighting broke out for control of the town of Lay Kay Kaw near the Thai border, according to a spokesman at the rebel group and media reports.
Thousands of residents in Lay Kay Kaw, which is only about 20km from the Thai border, had already fled fighting in December around the town that has been a refuge for pro-democracy supporters since the army seized power last year.
A spokesman for the Karen National Union (KNU), which is Myanmar’s oldest ethic rebel group, said the army appeared to be reinforcing the area after Sunday’s clashes though he had not yet received reports of fresh fighting on Monday.
“They haven’t retreated at all. They are sending more troops,” said KNU spokesman Padoh Saw Taw Nee, adding the group’s forces had killed 45 soldiers and lost two of its own fighters in Sunday’s clashes. Public Voice Television, which is backed by a shadow government set up since the coup, said the rebels had detained a captain from the Myanmar army during the fighting.
Reuters could not independently confirm the claims and a spokesperson for the military did not answer calls seeking comment. Lay Kay Kaw has been largely under the control of the KNU in recent months, but the army has at times sought to reassert control and fighting broke out last December when troops tried to arrest people in the town.
Sunday’s clashes came after the KNU had tried to push back army troops who had entered one district, said Padoh Saw Taw Nee.
In response, Myanmar’s military conducted air strikes, the rebels and local media reports said. Residents in Mae Sot, a town on the Thai side of the border said they heard gunfire and what appeared to be explosions.
In December, the KNU had called on the international community to establish a no-fly zone in the area to protect civilians.
Myanmar has been plunged into turmoil since the army ousted a civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi last year, prompting a bloody crackdown of protests by security forces and the formation of anti-junta militia sometimes allied with ethnic rebels.
Myanmar army launches air strikes against rebels near Thai border
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Myanmar army launches air strikes against rebels near Thai border
- Thousands of residents in Lay Kay Kaw, which is only about 20km from the Thai border, had already fled fighting
Trump insists he struck Iran on his own terms
- “We are now a nation divided between those who want to fight wars for Israel and those who just want peace and to be able to afford their bills and health insurance,” Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X.
- Rubio himself doubled down on Tuesday after meeting with US House and Senate members, while insisting that “No, I told you this had to happen anyway”
WASHINGTON, United States: President Donald Trump and his team scrambled Tuesday to reclaim the narrative on why he decided to attack Iran, after his top diplomat suggested the US struck only after learning of an imminent Israeli strike.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio alarmed Democrats — who say only Congress can declare war — as well as many of Trump’s MAGA supporters on Monday when he said: “We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action.”
“We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio told reporters.
Administration officials quickly backpedalled, insisting Trump authorized the strikes because Tehran was not seriously negotiating an accord on limiting its nuclear ambitions, and the United States needed to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities.
“No, Marco Rubio Didn’t Claim That Israel Dragged Trump into War with Iran,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted Tuesday on X.
At an Oval Office meeting later with Germany’s chancellor, Trump went further, saying that “Based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they (Iran) were going to attack first. And I didn’t want that to happen.”
“So, if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand.”
- Had to happen? -
Rubio himself doubled down on Tuesday after meeting with US House and Senate members, while insisting that “No, I told you this had to happen anyway.”
“The president made a decision. The decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide... behind this ability to conduct an attack.”
Critics seized on the muddied messaging to accuse Trump of precipitating the country into a war without a clear rationale, without informing Congress — and without a clear idea of how it might end.
They noted that just two weeks ago, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed Trump again in Washington to take a hard line, in their seventh meeting since Trump’s return to power last year.
Some Republican allies rallied behind the president, with Senator Tom Cotton, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, insisting that “No one pushes or drags Donald Trump anywhere.”
“He acts in the vital national security interest of the United States,” Cotton told the “Fox & Friends” morning show.
But as crucial US midterm elections approach that could see Republicans lose their congressional majority, Trump risks shedding supporters who had welcomed his pledge to end foreign military interventions.
“We are now a nation divided between those who want to fight wars for Israel and those who just want peace and to be able to afford their bills and health insurance,” Marjorie Taylor Greene, a top former Trump ally and a major figure in the populist and isolationist hard right, posted on X.
