Weekly Analysis: Civilians Left Terrified and Displaced After Airstrikes in Dawei

September 22, 2025

The Human Rights Foundation continues to record daily attacks on civilians in targeted areas of Mon State, Karen State, and the Tanintharyi Region. These military assaults have worsened as the urgent response needed to stop the junta remains delayed. People across Burma are bearing the burden of the military’s ongoing atrocity crimes. These deliberate and systematic attacks on people’s lives will also continue with alarming frequency unless immediate and coordinated intervention occurs.

On September 14, Yak Kansin Monastery in Pakari village, Dawei Township, Tanintharyi Region, was struck by an aerial bomb. The blast damaged the monastery building and destroyed several nearby houses. Local residents explained that the attack followed clashes when allied People’s Defence Forces launched an assault on junta troops stationed at the Pakari police camp and inside the monastery compound. During the fighting, two villagers from Pakari were killed.

The next morning, September 15, the junta launched further airstrikes on the monastery, while also firing machine guns from the air. As a result, the remaining monastery buildings were completely destroyed, and additional homes in the area were badly damaged.

By September 17, junta forces intensified their attacks, using Y-12 aircraft to conduct multiple bombings around Pakari village. Residents reported that bombs were dropped at least twice in the morning, forcing families to flee once more. According to the KNU’s Myeik–Dawei District office, the clashes resulted in 10 junta soldiers dead and nearly 15 wounded, with weapons and ammunition captured by resistance fighters.

That same day, two Y-12 aircraft expanded the bombing campaign across Dawei District, targeting Dawei, Launglon, Thayet Chaung, and Yebyu townships. Heavy bombardments caused villagers to flee in fear, as bombs fell more than twice in some areas.

“People are running in every direction. Monasteries and homes have been destroyed, and we don’t know where is safe anymore,” said one villager who fled with his family.

Since August 2025, the junta has reinforced its troops and launched a significant military advance in Yebyu Township, Tanintharyi Region, sparking heavy and ongoing clashes with joint revolutionary forces. In addition to ground fighting, the army has fired indiscriminate artillery into residential areas, forcing thousands of civilians to flee.

Overview of Main Cases

Military Junta Orders Conscripts from Mon State

The military junta has ordered wards and villages in Chaung Zone Township, Mon State, to send at least two conscripts for every round of military training. Local administrators, already struggling to meet these demands, have been forced to rely on costly substitutes to fill the quota.

According to local sources, hiring a substitute now costs between three and five million MMK. To cover this burden, administrators raised the so-called “conscription fee” to 10,000 MMK per household in August 2025.

Junta Retaliatory Attacks Lead to Searches of Local Homes

On September 14, the joint revolutionary forces attacked the junta’s security gate, stationed on “Pagoda Hill” in Htein Thit Ward, Long Lone Town, Long Lone Township, Tenasserim Division. The junta then advanced into Tha Byar village and searched the residents’ houses.

Junta Carries Out Offensives in Tanintharyi Region

On September 6, 2025, troops from a junta regiment advanced into Yar Phu and Kywe Ta Lin villages in Yebyu Township, Tanintharyi Region, and carried out operations that lasted for several days. The soldiers eventually withdrew from Yar Phu on September 12, moving toward Ka Lane Aung Town and Ma Yan Chaung village.

After the retreat, villagers discovered the bodies of two young men in Kwat Thit Ward, Yar Phu village. The victims were brothers, aged 17 and 25, who had been fatally shot.

“On the day the regiment entered the village, there was gunfire. The two brothers had first taken their grandfather to a displaced persons camp and then went back home. After that, no one heard from them again,” explained a Yebyu resident.

Villagers believe the brothers were killed on their way back to their house. Their bodies were cremated on September 15.

Artillery Attacks Launched in Karen State

On September 13, 2025, the junta launched indiscriminate artillery attacks on Than Pa Yar village, Kyarinnseikyi Township, Karen State. The shelling killed 50-year-old U Win Aung, who was fishing in a nearby stream. His body was discovered by villagers the following morning.

The attacks also left others injured and damaged homes, prompting residents from Than Pa Yar and surrounding villages to flee in fear.

“The situation is terrible. Everyone has run away. It’s not only our village—people from nearby areas have also fled. We come back in the daytime to check our homes, but no one dares to sleep there at night. The army keeps firing artillery, and people are being hurt,” said a local villager.