AA provides military aid to at least 23 resistance groups: report

By Admin 10 Jul 2025

DMG Newsroom

10 July 2025, Sittwe

At least 23 of the armed groups that emerged following the 2021 military coup are supported by the Arakan Army (AA), according to a report by the Institute for Strategy and Policy - Myanmar (ISP - Myanmar).

The report released on July 9 indicates that the AA is partially or fully providing these armed groups with resources such as weapons, supplies and military training.

These armed groups include groups linked to the AA's military command system and groups that have conducted military operations under the AA's command and control, and have partially or fully received military training and support, according to the ISP-Myanmar report.

Eight of the revolutionary forces are operating under the AA's military command structure, including several Burmese groups. They are the People's Independence Organization (PIO)/People's Independence Army (PIA), Generation Z Youth Army (GZA), People's Revolution Alliance (PRA-Magway), Student Armed Force (SAF), Asho Chin Defense Force (ACDF), People's Liberation Front (PLF), People's Revolution Force (PRF) and Chin Defense Force (CDF-Asho).

The ISP-Myanmar report says the AA has 15 other allies that it partially or fully supports with military resources.

These include the Bamar People's Liberation Army (BPLA), Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF), Chin Brotherhood members, and anti-regime forces in Ayeyarwady Region.

"The AA is a practical politician, proving its words with deeds and forging a new political path called the Way of Rakkhita," said a young Arakanese man who follows the local military-political dynamics in Arakan State. "The AA is now linking the Way of Rakkhita with the Spring Revolution and prioritising the final overthrow of the dictatorship, so helping the Burmese troops strengthens the practical revolution."

Currently, the AA is arguably the only ethnic armed group capable of carrying out revolutionary activities in Myanmar's heartland, with a major military presence extending beyond its base in Arakan State.

"The AA leaders are of a new generation, and the AA is the only ethnic armed organisation that has built the largest network of armed alliances, with a brother-sister relationship and a lot of action, capable of training, arming, leading by example, and mobilising other armed groups," the ISP-Myanmar report said.

The report describes the AA as capable of carrying out offensives in Ayeyarwady, Magway, and Bago regions, as well as being among the most well-connected and well-deployed ethnic armed groups in Myanmar.

The AA has built strong alliances with the Three Brotherhood Alliance - an alliance consisting of the Arakan Army, Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army - as well as powerful armed groups such as the United Wa State Army, Kachin Independence Army and Karen National Union.

The ISP-Myanmar report said that the AA currently controls 93 percent of Arakan State and is continuing its push to fully control the entire state.