Myanmar Junta Sentences Three Officers to Death for Withdrawal How Elon Musk Greases Putin’s Propaganda Machine

Myanmar’s military junta has sentenced to death three senior officers who surrendered a strategic city on the border with China to rebels. “Three brigade generals, including the commander of the city of Laukkai, were sentenced to death,” military sources said on Monday.

Three other generals were sentenced to life imprisonment for their role in abandoning the city.

Hundreds of soldiers laid down their weapons last month and handed the city in Shan State to the so-called Alliance of the Three Brotherhoods after months of fighting. The alliance allowed the officers and their soldiers to leave the area.

The surrender was one of the biggest defeats for the army in recent decades and led to criticism of his leadership among the junta’s supporters.

Laukkai is the largest city over which the Alliance has been able to take control. The alliance consists of the rebel groups MNDAA, AA and TNLA. They launched a surprise offensive in northern Myanmar in late October and have since captured several towns and trade centers along the border with China.

The successes have emboldened the so-called People’s Defense Forces, whose goal is to reverse the 2021 military coup, to launch attacks across the country. The junta announced in February that it would call up young men and women because of the “current situation.” (sda/afp)