The Royal Thai Armed Forces’ Commander-in-Chief Ukrit Boontanon summoned the Myanmar regime’s military attaché to Thailand, Win Thu Lin, to his headquarters in Bangkok on Nov. 2 to urge Naypyidaw to exercise caution in its military operations along the 1,501 mile (2,416 km) long shared Thai-Myanmar border.
During a speech on Monday, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the Thai Army would protect the country’s sovereignty “to the fullest extent possible” and that he had informed Naypyidaw about his concerns over fighting near the border. “[This] has nothing to do with Thailand or Thai people,” Anutin told a press conference in Nong Kai Province on Nov. 2.
The warnings from Bangkok came after an unknown number of buildings in Thailand’s Mae Hong Son Province were reportedly damaged during airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force on a Karen National Union (KNU) base across the border in Karen State’s Hpapun Township on Oct. 31. No casualties were reported on either side of the border.
Hpapun, located 110 miles (177 km) north of the Karen State capital Hpa-An, was seized by the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) from regime forces in March 2024. The KNU told DVB that a regime counteroffensive was launched with nearly 2,000 troops on May 5.
Phongphiphat Meebenjamas, the chairperson of the Mae Hong Son Mae Sam Laep Subdistrict Administrative Organization, stated that airstrikes are “severely” disrupting local trade as residents continue to hide at home in fear of further airstrikes along the border. He demanded that Bangkok urge the regime in Naypyidaw to stop its military operations and for Thai authorities to establish a “safe zone” on its side of the border.
Myanmar nationals living along the border in Thailand’s Tak Province, located 197 miles (318 km) south of Mae Hong Son, told DVB that they are concerned about airstrikes and artillery attacks against the KNLA since fighting in Karen State’s Myawaddy Township has repeatedly spilled across the border into Mae Sot District, since October.
A Thai woman was hospitalized in Mae Sot on Oct. 29 after being injured by artillery fired from the Myanmar side of the border. Myawaddy, located 81 miles (130 km) east of Hpa-An, is adjacent to Mae Sot.
