20240703 Cover Myanmar's jet fuel dilemma img main

Myanmar's military regime is almost entirely dependent on imported fuel to kill and terrorize civilians, and to power all aspects of its war machine. With revenue from natural gas sales to Thailand and China falling off dramatically, this is proving an unaffordable vulnerability.  (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)

Myanmar's reliance on imported fuel squeezes military as civilians suffer

Economic crisis likely to hit generals harder than sanctions as insurgents gain ground

BANGKOK -- Myanmar's army is learning a bitter lesson in military logistics in its faltering campaign against determined insurgents on multiple fronts. Forces under Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the military leader whose takeover in 2021 rekindled civil war, are having to scrounge for increasingly costly supplies of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel to feed their military machine.

Fuel is needed not just for Russian jet bombers and helicopter gunships, but also for trucks and armored personnel carriers, and for the generators used in command bunkers, communications centers, military hospitals and officer housing.

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