BBC goes inside Myanmar with rebel fighters

**Oliver Conway** (0:00)
You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 15 Hours GMT on Wednesday 10th June. Rebels in Myanmar tell the BBC they're losing ground as the military forces thousands of men to join the army. After exchanging attacks overnight, the US and Iran accuse each other of damaging negotiations. And Afghanistan says Pakistan killed 13 civilians in cross-border airstrikes.
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In the five years since a coup brought the armed forces to power in Myanmar, civil war has raged, leaving almost 100,000 people dead. Until recently, the military has been losing ground to rebel and ethnic groups. But the forced recruitment of tens of thousands of conscripts and the use of new drone technology has changed that. And now, the armed opposition is on the back foot. Quentin Somerville reports from Inside Myanmar.

**Quentin Somerville** (1:21)
Hidden deep under forest cover in Myanmar's Karen state is a field hospital, a jumble of bamboo and wooden buildings that treats resistance fighters injured in their battles to set Myanmar free from military rule.
So we're in the operating theatre. It's running off solar power and generator.
It is quite hot in here. Jazu is on the table, still awake. Jazu has a long gash at the top of his leg. They're trying to save his leg, which was injured as a result of him stepping on a landmine. He was on his way back from a military assault. As they turn him over, you can see that the back of his heel is all gone. It's just raw flesh. People sustain injuries from landmines every single day here. Dr Song is the surgeon here. They say they carry out operations every day in this operating theatre. Never stops in terms of casualties.

**Dr. Song** (2:26)
There were days during the five years that I have been here when I couldn't describe the sorrow with words anymore.
There's not just bombing. Later kamikaze drones and artillery as well.

**Quentin Somerville** (2:37)
What do you say to young people in Yangon and Mandalay today who say, the coup was five years ago, this is all over?

**Jennifer Ahn** (2:48)
If young people choose not to oppose the dictatorship now, then this cycle of revolution and resistance in our country will just continue, repeating itself endlessly.

**Quentin Somerville** (3:00)
There's about ten rebel militia fighters who are heading to a base called Papon. Now, they have that hunter base surrounded, but it's heavily armed. They have artillery, they have the ability to call in airstrikes, they have mortars, but they are surrounded on all three sides by the rebels. We're on a rare thing here, an asphalt road, and that means we're a big target. Well, these men are listening out for drones. Commanders here tell us the Myanmar's military has the edge in terms of quantity and technology. Strikes come almost daily, they say.
Commander Koh Kong, the People's Defense Force, takes me on patrol to a captured hunter base.

**SPEAKER_6** (3:48)
The danger from drones is definitely increasing. It would be easier for us if we also had jammers.

**Quentin Somerville** (3:57)
So there was a drone overhead and we just had to take cover. But we can't hear it now. And the PDF forces think they might have brought it down. But they can't confirm that. In any case, we have to wait at this position. Just like the conflict in Ukraine, like the conflict in Lebanon, drones are everywhere now and very quickly drone warfare adapts and escalates. And that's exactly what's happening here in Myanmar.
This resistance base is hidden deep in the forest. Time and time again we hear from resistance fighters that one of the reasons that Myanmar's military, the junta, has regained the initiative on the battlefield is because of thousands of new recruits, forced conscripts, some of whom never wanted to fight. Well, here at this HQ, there are four deserters from the junta forces, and they've agreed to speak to us.
How did you escape from the army?

**Anushka Mutanda Doherty** (5:06)
From the military outpost, we planned to escape from the bathing place.

**Dr. Hassan al-Hassan** (5:10)
Two of us went down to the bathing spot first, while the other two stayed behind to keep watch.

**Dr. Marcello Siniscalchi** (5:16)
Once all four of us had gathered there, we waited for the right moment and slipped away as soon as we could.

**Quentin Somerville** (5:22)
Did any of you want to join the army or were you forced to do so?