Myanmar Regime’s Sittwe Counteroffensive Hits the Rocks on Nga Pyi Island

Arakan Army soldiers display a Myanmar military landing vessel captured in Rakhine State’s Kyauktaw Township in February 2024. / AA Info Desk

The Myanmar military’s push to land troops on Nga Pyi Island in Rakhine State’s Pauktaw Township has suffered fresh setbacks as the ethnic Arakan Army (AA) strikes regime vessels and tightens its siege on the state capital Sittwe.

Frontline sources said AA artillery hit another navy vessel off the island on Sunday, the third to be damaged in recent days. “The boat was struck and caught fire,” a local source close to the AA confirmed. Intense clashes are raging both on and around Nga Pyi Island as regime forces continue efforts to secure a beachhead despite mounting casualties.

Sources said commanders are driving conscripts forward in near‑suicidal assaults, but few have managed to reach land.

Since Oct. 7, the military has deployed more than a dozen gunboats and landing craft backed by airstrikes and artillery from encircled Sittwe, in an effort to seize the island. The move aims to break the AA’s blockade of the Kaladan River corridor and shield the navy’s Shwe Mingan base in Sittwe, which sits on a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides.

Nga Pyi Island is a key AA stronghold, blocking regime access upriver to AA-controlled Pauktaw and Ponnagyun townships.

“Junta soldiers keep coming despite heavy casualties, but few have made it to shore,” said a source close to the AA.

Meanwhile, AA columns have seized several regime outposts elsewhere in Sittwe and are pressing toward Shwe Mingan naval base and the Sittwe Regional Operations Command.

The assault on Nga Pyi was launched as advancing AA troops threatened to encircle the military’s Sittwe stronghold. Fighting has also intensified just down the coast in Kyaukphyu Township, where AA forces are attacking outposts near Taung Maw Oo naval base.

The AA controls 14 of Rakhine State’s 17 townships along with Paletwa Township in neighboring Chin State, with the regime maintaining a foothold in Sittwe, Kyaukphyu, and the sparsely populated Manaung island.

A regime counteroffensive launched from neighboring Magwe, Bago, and Ayeyarwady regions is bogged down amid fierce resistance and heavy losses.