Aung San Suu Kyi moved to house arrest after sentence reduced
Regime media reported on Thursday that jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi will be transferred from Naypyidaw Prison to house arrest—at an undisclosed location–to serve the remainder of her 18-year sentence to mark the Full Moon Day of Kason. Her 22-year sentence was reduced by one-sixth to 18 years in an amnesty announced for 1,519 prisoners, including 11 foreigners, on April 30.
“This is not a human rights improvement. Reducing her sentence is not freeing her. She remains a hostage. If she is alive, show proof of life,” Kim Aris, Aung San Suu Kyi’s son, stated in a press release on April 30. Aris is demanding that Min Aung Hlaing, who was inaugurated as Burma’s president by a pro-military parliament on April 10, provide independent verification that Aung San Suu Kyi is alive and well.
Global “Proof of Life” rallies were held in Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday, in London, U.K., on Tuesday, in Melbourne, Australia, and Ulsan, South Korea, on Sunday, as well as in Vancouver, Canada on April 25. Min Aung Hlaing announced on April 30 that all remaining prison sentences would be reduced by one-sixth. He reduced Aung San Suu Kyi’s sentence by one-sixth on April 17 after releasing President Win Myint from prison. Read more
Military counteroffensive reaches Sagaing Region’s Indaw
The People’s Defence Force (PDF) in Sagaing Region’s Indaw Township told DVB that regime forces entered the town on Thursday after regaining control of Nabar village, four miles (6 km) east of Indaw, and the road leading into Indaw on Wednesday. Indaw, located 209 miles (336 km) north of the Sagaing Region capital Monywa, was seized by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the PDF on April 7, 2025.
An Indaw resident told DVB that regime forces didn’t harm any civilians or burn down any homes upon entering the town after departing from the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 309 in Katha Township on April 21. Regime forces recaptured Tigyaing Township from resistance forces on March 26, according to the PDF. Sagaing Region’s Katha and Tigyaing are located 16-42 miles (25-67 km) east and south of Indaw.
Indaw sits at a road and rail junction connecting to the Kachin State capital Myitkyina, where the regime’s Northern Regional Military Command (RMC) headquarters is located. Zin Yaw, a former soldier who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) after the 2021 coup, told DVB that Indaw is a “vital” logistics hub to Kachin’s Mohnyin, Mogaung and Myitkyina towns, which are under regime control.
Regime regains more territory lost to resistance since 2021
A little more than a year ago, the military was on the back foot in the civil war, pushed out of great swaths of the country’s north in Shan and Kachin states by an alliance of ethnic armed groups, and forced into defensive action around the rest of the country by other armed groups and resistance forces. Today the picture has changed.
With its ranks swollen by an estimated 110,000 new military conscripts since the regime enforced the conscription law on Feb. 10, 2024, the military has reversed some of its losses and appears poised to continue with its counteroffensive, while some resistance groups have left the fight and infighting and supply issues have weakened others.
“I think we’re nearing a crescendo here where the [military] is going to reassert itself and the resistance movement is going to peter out,” said Morgan Michaels, a Singapore-based analyst with the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) Myanmar Conflict Map project, adding that if the resistance to the 2021 coup stumbles, the conflict is not close to being over. Read more
News by Region
CHIN—Residents of Kanpelet Township told DVB that nine civilians were killed by airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force near Monechaung bridge in Kyindwe town on Wednesday. Kanpelet, located 160 miles (257 km) south of the state capital Hakha, was seized by the Chin Brotherhood on Dec. 22.
An unknown number of civilians were injured during the airstrikes, residents told DVB. Regime forces launched a counteroffensive in Kyindwe following the recapture of Falam Township on April 25. Falam is located 233 miles (375 km) south of Kanpelet and 41 miles (66 km) north of the state capital Hakha.
KAREN—Residents of Myawaddy Township told DVB that the regime warned that its Infantry Battalion 275 will disarm and prosecute anyone under the Weapons Law, which was enacted in 2023, and carries a 5-10 year sentence. Myawaddy is located 81 miles (130 km) east of the state capital Hpa-An.
Residents told DVB that the pro-regime Border Guard Force (BGF) and Democratic Karen Benevolent Army (DKBA) have not been seen carrying firearms in public since the warning was issued on April 23. The KNU/KNLA PC told DVB that the warning was issued for security reasons.
SAGAING—Residents of Pale, Yinmabin, Salingyi, and Kani townships told DVB that thousands fled their homes in anticipation of a regime counteroffensive which arrived in Kani on Tuesday. The four towns are located 27-39 (43-62 km) southwest, west and north of the region’s capital Monywa.
A Kani resident told DVB that she had to cross the Chindwin River to escape attacks by four regime columns arriving from the Northwestern RMC headquarters in Monywa. Residents of Yinmabin told DVB that regime forces have detained six civilians for unknown reasons this month.
(Exchange rate: $1 USD = 4,240 MMK)
Stay up-to-date with the latest on #WhatsHappeninginMyanmar by subscribing for free to the DVB English News Daily Briefing newsletter.
