Inside Myanmar's civil war: ITV News given rare access to rebel forces

ITV News has filmed with rebel forces who do seem to be slowly gaining the upper hand - but at a terrible price, as Asia Correspondent Debi Edward reports

We entered Myanmar under KNLA (Karen National Liberation Army) guard, on roads battered by this year’s rainy season.

The jungle through which we ploughed in the eastern Karen State, has become the unforgiving staging ground in a civil war that has been raging for almost four years.

The KNLA is one of the most established of several Burmese ethnic armies that have been gaining ground on the junta since it seized power in a coup in February 2021.

Junta refers to the current Myanmar government that took to power by military means.

It has become increasingly difficult, and dangerous for journalists to enter the country - the military junta doesn’t welcome coverage showing how unstable, and unsafe Myanmar has become under its rule.

In recent months, bombings on rebel facilities have intensified and the junta has been using its superior air power to destroy villages and towns. Hundreds of innocent civilians have been killed or injured in the strikes.

When ITV News arrived at our base just north of the Three Pagodas town, people were nervous because they’d heard junta jets overhead.

While we were there, we also saw a drone used as a target spotter. News later reached us that an old KNLA base nearby had been bombed.

All the KNLA has in its arsenal to deter the jet attacks are heavy machine guns, but they are not up to the job.

The rebel forces have become better equipped, thanks in part to crowdfunding, but more recently to the seizure of weapons from junta bases they have overrun.

However, it has been mostly bullets and guns they have been able to pillage, not the tracking devices or anti-aircraft weaponry they’d need to counter the junta's aerial assaults.

The KNLA wants the United Nations to sanction the military junta and choke off its weapons supply and jet fuel.

So far, there has been little inclination to intervene from the international community.

The spokesman for the KNLA and KNU (Karen National Union) told us that the British Government, in particular, bears a responsibility.

The British ruled Burma - Myanmar's former name – for more than 100 years. The country gained its independence from colonial rule in 1948.

The spokesman said given that history, Britain should not ignore the ongoing conflict, and should step in to help and support the people it once ruled.

The UN estimates three million people have been displaced since the conflict, a majority of whom evacuated at the start of this year as the war intensified.

More than 18 million people are said to be in desperate need of humanitarian assistance, but aid agencies are struggling to get access to the country.

We visited one IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camp close to the Thai border where more than 5,000 people are living in temporary homes.

Most of the families living there were forced to flee villages or areas that were bombed.

Some are still so traumatised they sleep in the forest rather than in the wooden shelters, which they fear could still become a target.

The camp had running water but was receiving little aid, despite being so close to the Thai border.

Most had arrived with very few possessions and had no idea when they would be able to return home, and how or where they will be able to start making a new life.

They do not want the IDP camp to become more than short-term.

In a village deeper into the jungle, we went to a church to meet dozens of people who had fled their homes after the junta enforced a conscription law earlier this year.

From February, all men and women from the age of 18 became subject to mandatory military service - an indication the junta needs reinforcements.

We asked for a show of hands, and it revealed a majority of those we met were trying to escape conscription.

Whole families had uprooted to the jungle fearing their sons and daughters might be forced to fight. One couple we met had fled while the wife was three months pregnant.

They found out their names were on the juntas’ conscription list. They asked us not to show their faces or use their names fearing their parents, who are still in their hometown, could be targeted.

They told us the military government is brutal and strict, they claimed the junta has been known to murder pregnant women, for no reason.

Their baby will be born in October with them far apart from the rest of their family, in a place where they still don’t feel safe.

The juntas’ rule was described as a reign of terror, the military stands accused of extrajudicial killings, rape, and burning people alive in their homes.

Thousands of dissenters have been arrested, and many have died after violent torture in jail.

Young boys have been forced into military service and we were told, nowhere feels safe anymore.

Away from the main crowd in the church, we met a group of ten friends who had fled to the jungle from one of Myanmar’s main cities.

In their late teens and twenties, they all had jobs or were studying, when suddenly their urban lives and bright futures came under threat.

They told us that the junta had started a census to find out how many boys of conscription age were in each family, and they had already forced many young boys to enlist.

They feared that the military would send troops to their homes to capture them, so they fled.

In groups of two or three, they made their way to the village in the jungle where we met.

One of them told us at first, that they didn’t think the military junta could possibly be so cruel and do the things they had only read about in our history.

Another lamented how they had had normal lives. They had worked, eaten out, gone on vacations, but now all of that had been taken away from them.

The Junta denies committing atrocities and in a written response to my questions, they described the pro-democracy forces are terrorist insurgents.

They accused the PDF of spreading false news to misrepresent the Tatmadaw (the Armed forces of Myanmar).

In response to my question regarding the illegal seizure of power in February 2021, the Tatmadaw claimed the elections held in 2020 were fraudulent, forcing them to take control.

They cited relations with various world organisations and governments, as proof of their legitimacy.

There is no evidence of vote fraud in the November 2020 elections. The National League for Democracy (NLD), and its figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, won the election in a second consecutive landslide victory.

The NLD was due to be sworn in as the government in February 2021, when the Tatmadaw seized power in a coup.

Many young men and women have chosen to join the revolutionary ranks, rather than fight for the junta.

The conscription law has inadvertently boosted the resistance, helping the pro-democracy forces build momentum.

This follows a series of coordinated attacks that have helped them to take control of more than half of the country’s territory.

The KNLA wouldn’t give us exact numbers on the size of their fighting force, they want to keep the military junta in the dark.

But they told us that their army has more than doubled since the start of the conflict, and they are training more all the time. Most of the brigades we travelled with were new recruits.

Before we left, we were given access to a medical centre for wounded soldiers, most with life-changing injuries.

Conditions were cramped and resources were scarce, but morale was still remarkably high.

On the second floor, we met Mike, he was sitting alone and he greeted us in English.

In May this year, he got hit by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG).

He had only joined the KNLA in 2022 and was working at a five-star hotel in Singapore when he decided to leave and help fight the junta. He became one of their most skilled gunners.

Mike told us he is waiting on his third surgery but plans to return to the frontline when he has recovered.

He said most of those in the centre who could return to fight, would do so.

Those fighting in the pro-democracy forces believe they can bring down the military junta in Myanmar.

The country was under military rule for forty-nine years from 1962 to 2011.

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There is a determination to prevent a return to those days and deliver freedom and democracy to the Burmese people once again.

In close to four years of conflict in Myanmar, more than 3 million people have lost their homes, tens of thousands have died and half the population is living in poverty.

With the economy also in crisis, the country is on the brink of becoming a failed state.

The one message we kept hearing from those we met was ‘’Help us’’ tell the rest of the world not to forget about us we need their support.

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