Myanmar Junta Burns Villages to Clear Land for Russia-Backed Economic Zone

Myanmar’s junta has deployed around 700 troops to forcibly clear land in the country’s south that has been designated for a special economic zone (SEZ) being developed with Russian support.

Reuters reported on this.

Local activists and rebel representatives told Reuters that the military has been burning villages and blocking access to the surrounding areas.

The offensive is taking place near the Dawei Special Economic Zone, which includes plans to build a deep-sea port and power plant on the Andaman Sea coast. It is being promoted as a strategic alternative to the Strait of Malacca.

According to two sources, the military has deployed hundreds of troops since July to the southern Tanintharyi Region, which borders Thailand and is home to Dawei. The offensive is being supported by airstrikes, including from Russian-made Su-30SME fighter jets. This gives the army an advantage over the fragmented and poorly organized local resistance groups.

“The military is advancing its columns and carrying out clearance operations. Some villages and homes have been burned,” Soe Tha Ko of the Tanintharyi People’s Defence Force told Reuters.

Local civil society organization MAGGA Initiative said that on July 9, the military detained and killed three humanitarian workers after they encountered an army convoy in Yebyu Township.

Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, who was elected president of the country in April 2026, presented Dawei as a potential gateway to South and West Asia during a visit to Thailand this month. No democratic country recognized the elections as legitimate. Meanwhile, Hlaing’s presidency has been backed by China, Russia, and Belarus.

The project was launched in 2008 as a joint venture with Thailand. It was intended to facilitate trade between Southeast Asian countries and those in Western and East Asia. However, work on the Dawei SEZ was halted in 2013 due to opposition from local residents and a lack of funding.

“Myanmar’s junta is now seeking to revive the project with the support of its key ally, Russia. Russian companies plan to operate in the Dawei SEZ, expand trade, and create new jobs, particularly in small and medium-sized businesses,” Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said during a meeting with Min Aung Hlaing.

Two new Su-30SME fighter jets of the Myanmar Air Force during a ceremony marking the delivery of the new aircraft. Photo credits: GNLM.

According to a source familiar with Moscow’s position, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, the project could give Russia greater access to Southeast Asian markets and a port presence in the Indian Ocean region.

Fighting in Myanmar

The offensive toward Dawei reflects the junta’s broader strategy of retaking strategic territories and border areas it lost following the 2021 military coup. The coup sparked a civil war that has killed around 100,000 people and forced more than 3.5 million others to flee their homes.

Although Myanmar’s military announced in April that it planned to hold peace talks within 100 days, the intensity of the conflict has barely subsided.

An FPV drone operated by the rebels approaches a river tugboat belonging to Myanmar’s government forces. Source: War Noir

In the first half of 2026, the junta launched new operations to advance deeper into Chin, Kachin, Karen, and Rakhine states, where powerful ethnic armed organizations control large swathes of territory and border crossings with Bangladesh, China, India, and Thailand.

The military has focused these offensives on strategic roads and towns linking ethnic-group-controlled border areas with central Myanmar. These areas are home to the army’s main bases, logistics hubs, and supply routes, as well as sections of major investment corridors.

Fighting intensified after the junta’s deputy military commander visited southern Myanmar in late June. He called on troops to protect ‘strategic projects,’ including Dawei. The visit came just days after a delegation in St. Petersburg signed a memorandum to build a power plant in Dawei.