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Myanmar Junta's Air Strike Campaign in Arakan Targets Only Arakanese Civilians, Sparing Muslims—And Here's Why
- globalarakannetwork
- Oct 6
- 2 min read
News
Global Arakan Network October 5, 2025
According to data compiled by the Humanitarian and Development Coordination Organization (HDCO)—the humanitarian arm of the United Liberation Army (ULA)—a stark pattern emerges: 97 percent of the Myanmar junta's air strikes in Arakan are directed against Arakanese civilians, sparing the Muslim population. For instance, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships where the majority of Muslims lives have never been targeted by the junta air strikes since January 2025.
This revelation starkly contradicts the prevailing narratives peddled by the United Nations, international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), and global media outlets, which routinely portray Muslims as the primary victims of atrocities perpetrated by both the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army.
The HDCO's sources reveal that, of the 970 civilians killed in junta air strikes across Arakan, 942 hail from the ethnic Arakanese community, with Muslim victims comprising a negligible fraction since early 2025. The junta's selective targeting of Rakhine ethnic groups stems from three calculated motives.
First, the regime seeks to evade the glare of international scrutiny. By focusing on Arakanese victims, the junta exploits a glaring bias in UN reports and international media coverage, which disproportionately highlight crimes against Muslims while sidelining atrocities against other ethnic minorities. In this skewed ecosystem, Arakanese and kindred groups become collateral casualties of a myopic reporting apparatus that amplifies one tragedy at the expense of others.
Second, the junta employs these strikes to foment division, mobilizing the Muslim community in Arakan as proxies in their "divide and rule" stratagem. This tactic has been laid bare in recent clashes in Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships, where junta forces openly backed Muslim militants in assaults against the Arakan Army.
Reports now surface of deepening collaboration between the junta and groups like the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) and Rohingya Solidarity Organisation (RSO) along the Bangladesh border, underscoring a deliberate ploy to pit communities against one another.
Finally, these air strikes serve as a blunt instrument of political coercion. By inflicting disproportionate casualties on Rakhine civilians, the junta amplifies pressure on ethnic leadership, extracting concessions in military and diplomatic negotiations. The deaths are not random; they are leverage, designed to bend the will of ULA commanders and erode their resolve.
In a grim testament to this strategy, the ULA issued a press release on October 2, documenting 23 civilian deaths and 49 injuries from air strikes in September alone—all victims ethnic Arakanese. As the regime's jets continue to scar Arakan's skies, the world must confront not just the scale of the violence, but the insidious intent behind it: a campaign that weaponizes silence, division, and despair to perpetuate control.
