As Arakan Army gains ground in Myanmar, peace remains elusive

FILE - A photo released by the Arakan Army shows its members posing in front of the Gwa town signboard at the entrance gate, following their capture of Gwa Township in southern Rakhine State, Myanmar, on Dec. 29, 2024. District map of Rakhine State, created by the Myanmar Information Management Unit with support from UK Aid, dated April 24, 2020. FILE - Major General Twan Mrat Naing, commander-in-chief of the Arakan Army, speaks to VOA via Zoom from an undisclosed location for security reasons on June 15, 2024. FILE - A photo released by the Arakan Army shows its members posing at one of the Myanmar junta's military outposts, captured in Gwa Township, southern Rakhine State, Myanmar, on Dec. 29, 2024.

In Myanmar, a relatively new ethnic armed group known as the Arakan Army has recently taken control of 15 out of 17 townships in the war-torn country's western Rakhine state. This includes the Myanmar military's western regional command headquarters located in Ann Township, in central Rakhine state. This marks the second major regional command center to fall since the beginning of a surge in resistance victories by allied ethnic armed groups – the "Three Brotherhood Alliance" – known as Operation 1027 in late 2023.