Myanmar Junta Advances on Rebel-Held Hpapun with Conscripted Troops as Both Sides Report Heavy Fighting

Four men aged 19 to 25 who were forcibly conscripted by Myanmar's military escaped while on their way to wash and reached a People's Defence Force patrol, The BBC reported. The men said they spent four months in basic training before being sent to the front in Karen state. One man was grabbed off the street on his way home from work as a chef because he lacked identification.

Another was taken after a late-night karaoke session. A third was arrested while working for the forestry department. The fourth said drugs were slipped into his shoe and he was framed before being forced to enlist.

"Before we even understood what was happening, we were sent straight to the front lines," one of the men told The BBC. They said they received no real rest and were made to do tasks they did not want to do. After escaping they were detained by the PDF patrol but are now treated "like brothers, not strangers," they said.

The men will be taken to the Thailand border because the military could still track them if they return now, one of them said. The BBC agreed to hide their identities to protect their families from retribution. The military began enforcing a conscription law in 2024 that requires a minimum of two years of service.

PDF battalion commander Ko Kaung said the policy gave the junta "limitless manpower" and became the main challenge for rebels on the battlefield. Ko Kaung and his fighters captured Hpapun town and a military base in Karen state two years ago. As many as 2,000 junta soldiers are now advancing toward Hpapun, and junta drones are active overhead.

PDF commander Da Wa said many conscripts are improving as fighters because they are getting better at following orders. Some 400 soldiers are headed toward his position as well. Rebels captured a base near Da Wa in April but held it for only a couple of days before artillery and airstrikes forced them back.

Da Wa said the junta gained an edge in both technology and quantity of drones after signing a security pact with Russia. Ko Kaung said the increased drone threat would be easier to counter with jammers. China has invested billions in Myanmar and mines rare earth minerals in Karen and Kachin states.

China has brokered ceasefires with several rebel groups and is throttling supplies of weapons and ammunition to resistance forces. Kyar Soe, a PDF platoon commander, stepped on a landmine and lost most of his right heel. He underwent a second operation with metal brackets and pins at a jungle field hospital.

Myanmar recorded 745 people killed or injured by landmines last year, a quarter of them children. Dr Saung, who served 19 years at a military academy before running the field hospital, told young fighters that earlier generations failed to fulfil their responsibility. The hospital operates on solar power or a backup generator and lacks an ambulance.

May Kyut Mon, 29, gave birth to a baby girl named Sue Paye at the hospital. Her husband, Yine Chit, 24, said he wants a free and democratic Myanmar for his daughter's future. The couple cannot visit their parents in junta-controlled territory until the conflict ends.

The military seized power in 2021 from the democratically elected government and jailed Aung San Suu Kyi. More than two years ago an alliance of ethnic and rebel groups made sweeping gains, but the military has since retaken key townships and a critical road from Mandalay to Myitkyina.