Over 500 Rohingya feared dead as reports of boats capsizing; Russian forces training Myanmar military

More than 500 people are feared dead after reports that two boats carrying Rohingya from Burma have capsized in the Bay of Bengal, officials said Thursday. According to preliminary information, the two boats left Arakan State in late June carrying mostly Rohingya passengers, including some who had traveled from refugee camps across the border in Bangladesh. “While the incidents and casualty figures have yet to be officially confirmed, UNHCR and IOM are gravely concerned by the potentially devastating loss of life,” the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in a statement released on July 16. Regime escalates surveillance ahead of Martyrs’ Day The regime in Naypyidaw has ordered heightened surveillance and a crackdown on public commemorations ahead of Burma’s 79th Martyrs’ Day on July 19. According to sources within the regime’s General Administration Department (GAD) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, officials have been instructed to tightly monitor public spaces and online activity to prevent any demonstrations or flash mob protests. The date holds immense historical weight in Burma, marking the July 19, 1947 assassination of independence hero General Aung San—the father of jailed State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi—alongside seven other pre-independence cabinet members and a security guard. For decades, the public holiday has been a focal point for national mourning and, increasingly, pro-democracy sentiment. Russian forces training Myanmar military in Naypyidaw Russian soldiers have been actively training Burma’s special operations forces in the capital Naypyidaw, marking a significant escalation in the military alliance between Moscow and the regime. The joint exercise, dubbed “Tropical Storm,” is taking place at the National Defence College in Naypyidaw from July 6 to 17. The training operation follows the signing of a pivotal five-year military cooperation agreement between Moscow and Naypyidaw earlier this year on Feb. 3. Pyae Sone Lin, chief of the regime’s Military Training Directorate, described the exercises in a video released on July 14. News by Region ARAKAN—Residents of the state capital Sittwe told DVB that the regime’s Police Battalion 12 launched artillery attacks on Ponnagyun Township on Monday, ending a two-week hiatus of fighting against the Arakan Army (AA). Ponnagyun, located 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Sittwe, was seized by the AA in March 2024. A Sittwe resident told DVB on the condition of anonymity that AA forces reached Narikan village, five miles (8 km) north of Sittwe, in June. The AA has been contesting regime forces over control of Sittwe and Kyaukphyu, 317 miles (510 km) south of Sittwe, since 2025. It has seized control of 14 out of 17 townships. MANDALAY—The People’s Defense Force (PDF) in Madaya Township announced that it has launched attacks against regime forces since the last week of June. A total of 15 military personnel and one PDF member were killed during fighting in Madaya’s Shinhla Taung and Thaeinn villages on June 27. Two civilians were also injured by retaliatory airstrikes carried out by the Burma Air Force in Madaya. The PDF in Mandalay, which is fighting in Madaya, also stated on July 7 that it will resume operations in collaboration with allied resistance forces. Madaya is located 24 miles (38 km) north of Mandalay. SHAN—The Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) has officially begun establishing “civilian-led administrations” across four newly designated districts and its capital within its controlled territory in northern Shan. It clarified that the move is not an attempt to secede from Burma.