The civil war in Myanmar has churned for five years, with the military finding ever more creative ways to kill people who are fighting for democracy and an end to ethnic repression. But the conflict has garnered little attention compared with those in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Myanmar’s former army chief, U Min Aung Hlaing, staged a coup in 2021, ousting the elected government. That event catalyzed a full-blown war that has pitted the powerful military against hundreds of disparate rebel groups united in their mission to unseat the generals’ chosen government.
In April, Mr. Min Aung Hlaing maneuvered himself into the post of president after a stage-managed election, amid an effort to pitch the war-torn country as open for business. But the leadership changes — political window-dressing, really — occurred as the Southeast Asian nation suffered the highest monthly civilian death toll since the coup, according to human rights groups. Here’s where things stand:
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In 2025, Myanmar was the most world’s most extreme conflict zone, apart from the Palestinian territories, according to the conflict monitor A.C.L.E.D. More than 90,000 people have been killed since the civil war began five years ago. The war is also the most fragmented conflict in the world, with more than 1,200 armed groups on the ground, A.C.L.E.D. found. More than half the country is controlled by rebel militias, but intensifying military strikes over the past half year have threatened that patchwork of resistance.
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Nearly 4 million people have been forced to flee their homes, in a nation of about 50 million, the United Nations estimates. Nearly one-quarter of the population faces acute hunger. The threat of military conscription and high unemployment has sent millions overseas to work in menial jobs.
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Myanmar is the most land mine-contaminated country on earth, experts say. Soldiers have planted the devices across civilian areas, which is widely considered a war crime. The country has endured the most such casualties, a group campaigning to end the use of land mines found.
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Since holding elections in December and January, the Myanmar military has stepped up offensives against the rebels, pummeling resistance strongholds with village burnings and daily airstrikes. A bombing campaign in March involved more than 240 separate strikes and killed at least 400 people.
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Myanmar’s generals have learned to kill creatively. They have employed fighter jets, helicopters, drones, gyrocopters and armed paragliders, with most of the sophisticated weaponry coming from Russia and China. The rebels, by contrast, have no stable arms pipeline, and hopes that their fight for democracy might prompt funding from the West faded long ago.
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