Junta forces retreat as escalating clashes with Arakan Army continue across Ayeyarwady Region

Clashes between the Arakan Army (AA) and junta forces have intensified in Ayeyarwady’s Lemyethna, Yegyi, and Ngathaingchaung townships this week, sources told Myanmar Now.Much of the fighting has broken out along the Gwa–Ngathaingchaung Road—a key route linking the Rakhine Hills (Rakhine Yoma) to Ayeyarwady Region—with junta troops reportedly retreating, according to residents and resistance sources.“When the military was defeated, they asked to recruit the soldiers in the surrounding villages and asked the villagers to send the food to the front lines area,” a resistance source told Myanmar Now.