The military regime on Saturday recaptured Chin State’s second city Falam from ethnic resistance groups after a major six-month offensive.
The regime said it launched the offensive in October last year, going village by village and gradually seizing one resistance base after another.
But it was not until April 25 that it managed to take seize complete control of the mountain town from the Chin Brotherhood and allied forces.
The regime said its troops engaged in a total of 109 clashes with the resistance forces and lost some officers as well as rank-and-file solders during the operation.
It added that soldiers found the bodies of 19 Chin resistance fighters during the battle for Falam and seized a cache of weapons.
A spokesperson for the Chinland Ministry of Defense confirmed to local media that resistance forces lost the town after seizing it just over a year ago.
The ministry blamed the regime’s heavy use of airstrikes for the loss.
Spokespersons of the Chin Brotherhood and Chin National Army (CNF) could not be reached for comment on Monday.
Perched precipitously in the Chin Hills, Falam is the only township in the state that has an airport and is home to state and district offices even though the Chin State capital has long been moved to Hakha.
Along with its resistance allies, the Chin Brotherhood captured the city on April 8, 2025.
Chin resistance groups and the Arakan Army (AA) from neighboring Rakhine State have taken control of five out of the state’s nine townships. The Chin resistance also controls rural areas in the remaining four townships, while the regime controls only urban areas including Hakha.
Even in the state capital, regime figures have been frequently targeted by resistance drones.
The regime’s next target is likely to be the resistance-held trade hub of Rihkawdar on the Indian border, prominent military defector Zin Yaw told The Irrawaddy.
