Even trained soldiers deserting  junta army every day, unwilling to engage in combat

Narinjara News, July  16, 2025

The Arakan Army (AA) released a video today, July 15, of interviews with two soldiers who were forcibly conscripted and fled to the Arakan Army from No (99) military brigade, the most combat-capable brigade in the Myanmar army.

Nay Lin Aung (Personal Identification Number - PaSa/134981) and Private Aung Thet Htun (Personal Identification Number - PaSa/127146) are two of the junta troops that deserted.

Additionally, the AA has encouraged additional conscripted army members of the civil service to join the AA.

According to the AA's invitation, "If young people from all over Burma who are being subjected to various forms of oppression want to defect to the Arakan Army, they can do so at any time, wherever they are in their ranks."

In its statement, it also pledges, "The Arakan Army guarantees the life and safety of all those who come forward and defect."

As in past years, the military council is suffering several losses in many locations. Since then, the military council has been forcibly enlisting young people from throughout Burma and dispatching them to the battle's front lines, without their consent, in order to maintain the dictatorship, after it annexed and adopted the Conscription Law in February 2024.

Due to the brutality and torture of army officers, the conscripted soldiers, who have been forcibly trained by the junta council, have lost their will to fight forces like the AA and other EAOs and are fleeing the army every day.

The new members of the military council (or militia) are being forced to the front lines, where they are reportedly unwilling to fight and attempting to flee to neighboring ethnic revolutionary groups whenever the opportunity arises or the circumstances permit.

Meanwhile, after losing several camps throughout Burma, the fascist terrorist military council is attempting to retake the captured camps and towns.

However, the new recruits are no longer prepared to engage in combat and are running away from the military every day and every hour, the AA statement claims.

On July 9, several soldiers in the Ann-Padan battlefield in Magwe division surrendered to the AA, and among them the AA chose Nay Lin Aung and Aung Thet Htun for interview, and the video clips were also made available today.

In a similar vein, three of the four new defected members of the military council from the Defense Equipment Manufacturing Plant (Kapasa No -16) located in the Mathon village of the Bago region's Padaung Township joined the revolutionary forces to battle against the military council, YOMA AYA said on the video clip.

According to the statement, one of the four defected soldiers was taken back by his parents, while the other three will join the Yoma Aya People's Defense Force and participate in the revolution against the dictator.