Western Regional Military Command (Myanmar)

{{Short description|Western Regional Military Command of Myanmar}}

{{Infobox military unit

| unit_name = Western Regional Military Command

| native_name = အနောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ်

| image = MM Western RMC Badge.svg

| image_size = 216px

| caption = Emblem of the Western Regional Military Command

| dates =

| country = {{Flag|Myanmar}}

| branch = {{Army|Myanmar}}

| type = Regional Military Command

| specialization = Territorial defense, security, and military operations; management and supervision of command, operations, and logistical affairs of all units within the region.

| nickname = Nine Stars, Rakhine people

| commander1 = Major General Kyaw Swar Oo

| commander1_label = Regional Commander

| commander2 = Brigadier General Thaung Tun

| commander2_label = Deputy Regional Military Commander

| identification_symbol = Image:MM Western RMC Flag.svg

| identification_symbol_label = Flag

}}

The Western Regional Military Command ({{Langx|my|အနောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ်}}); short form: Na Pha Kha ({{Langx|my|နပခ}}) is a regional military headquarters of the Tatmadaw, based in Ann Township, Rakhine State. Its primary responsibilities include defense, security, and military operations in Rakhine State, the southern part of Chin State, and adjacent areas. In addition, the Western Regional Military Command is responsible for the military leadership, operations, and logistics of its subordinate units and attached/supporting troops within its jurisdiction. The command also implements orders and directives issued by higher military authorities, ensures their proper execution, and exercises supervision and oversight. The current commander of the Western Regional Military Command is Brigadier General Kyaw Swar Oo (Army ID: 26753) (Teza - 22).{{cite news|url=https://www.cincds.gov.mm/node/12849|title=အနောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်းစစ်ဌာနချုပ်၌ ၂၀၂၁-၂၀၂၂ ပညာသင်နှစ် ကျောင်းသား/ကျောင်းသူ များအား ကျောင်းဝတ်စုံနှင့် စာရေးကိရိယာများ ထောက်ပံ့ပေးအပ်ပွဲပြုလုပ်|last=|date=|work=|language=|accessdate=|archivedate=9 June 2021|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609054839/https://www.cincds.gov.mm/node/12849}}

History

The Western Regional Military Command was established on September 10, 1972, in Sittwe, Rakhine State.{{cite web|url=https://www.moi.gov.mm/news/30011|title=50th Anniversary of the Western Regional Military Command, Silver Jubilee Celebration|work=MOI Myanmar|access-date=21 December 2024|date=10 September 2022}} On January 7, 1981, the Western Regional Military Command opened a border region command under the leadership of the Chief of Staff, which extended from the southern Natmyitwun boundary, bordering Myanmar-Bangladesh, and expanded northwards to the tripoint of Myanmar-Bangladesh-India.{{cite web|url=https://mlis.gov.mm/mLsView.do;jsessionid=C67362455C43B80637D839BA607E9741?lawordSn=4155|title=Order concerning the establishment of the Myanmar-Bangladesh Border Control Command|work=Myanmar Legal Information System|access-date=21 December 2024|date=7 January 1981}}{{Dead link|date=December 2024}} In the mid-1990s, the Western Regional Military Command was relocated from Sittwe to Ann, Rakhine State, where it replaced a regional military command focused on regional defense. A regional defense military command was also opened in Sittwe.{{cite web|url=https://ijbs.online/journal-issues/2021-vol-1/ရခိုင်ပြည်နယ်မြောက်ပို/|title=Military Expansion in Northern Rakhine State|work=Independent Myanmar Research Journal|access-date=21 December 2024|date=2021}} The areas of control included the entire Rakhine State and the Paletwa Township in Chin State. Subordinate military units were deployed in southern Rakhine State and Chin State. The first commander was Brigadier General Hla Htun (Training Course-1), who took office with the number Kyei-5497.

Structure

The command structure consists of 3 regional command headquarters, 43 infantry and mobile battalions, 26 administrative units, and 12 naval units, totaling a minimum of 87 military units.

The military commands within the Naphak region, along with the subordinate commands, military strategies, and subordinate infantry/mobile units, are as follows:

= Regional Military Command (Sittwe) =

= Military Strategies =

There is 1 base military strategy, 3 operational military strategies, and infantry/mobile units (including the Daks-Sittwe subordinate battalions).

Military Operational Command Headquarters within the Regional Military Command Area

Former Commanders of the Western Region Military Command

Brigadier General Hla Htun (Kyit - 5497) (VTC - 1) (11 July 1972 - 18 March 1975)
Major General Min Gawn (Kyit - 6315) (18 March 1975 - 23 March 1979)
Major General Wan Tin (Kyit - 6138) (23 March 1979 - 14 January 1980)
Major General Soe Myint (Kyit - 5482) (14 January 1980 - 22 July 1983)
Brigadier General Myo Thin (Kyit - 6605) (VTC - 9) (22 July 1983 – Present)
Brigadier General Win Myint (Kyit - 8809) (VTC - 28)
Brigadier General Aung Thwe (Kyit - 9752) (VTC - 29)
Brigadier General Maung Oo (Stath - 13)
Major General Min Aung Hlaing{{Cite web|title=Myanmar Light News (19.04.2005)|url=https://www.burmalibrary.org/docsMA2005/MA2005-04-19.pdf?__cf_chl_tk=XBi.1fPc6KNRCKnRbhftgbvzEA4kD7gGqR6igQZi2m0-1667888414-0-gaNycGzNCP0|access-date=8 November 2022|archive-date=8 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221108062700/https://www.burmalibrary.org/docsMA2005/MA2005-04-19.pdf?__cf_chl_tk=XBi.1fPc6KNRCKnRbhftgbvzEA4kD7gGqR6igQZi2m0-1667888414-0-gaNycGzNCP0}} (Kyit - 14232) (Stath - 19)
Brigadier General Maung Shain (Kyit - 14756) (Stath - 20)
Brigadier General Thawng Aye (Kyit - 14788) (Stath - 20)
Brigadier General Soe Thein
Brigadier General Htun Nay Lin (Kyit - 16354) (VTC - 61)
Brigadier General Ko Ko Naing (Kyit 19000) (Stath - 26)
Brigadier General Maung Maung Soe{{cite web|url=https://burmese.voanews.com/a/4173421.html|title=Former Western Region Military Command Commander Brigadier General Maung Maung Soe Faces Action in Kan|work=VOA Burmese|access-date=24 March 2024|date=21 December 2017|archive-date=3 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203023240/https://burmese.voanews.com/a/4173421.html}}
Major General Soe Tin Naing {{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/burmese/burma-41971617|title=Western Region Commander Replacement|work=BBC Burmese|access-date=24 March 2024|date=13 November 2017|archive-date=30 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430155400/http://www.bbc.com/burmese/burma-41971617}} (Former Director of the Support and Transport Department)
Brigadier General Phone Myat{{cite web|url=https://burma.irrawaddy.com/news/2019/05/28/192811.html|title=Two Military Commanders Replaced|work=The Irrawaddy|access-date=24 March 2024|date=28 May 2019|archive-date=30 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230130062833/https://burma.irrawaddy.com/news/2019/05/28/192811.html}} (Kyit - 20324) (VTC - 73) (Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Border Affairs) {{cite web|url=https://burma.irrawaddy.com/news/2020/07/28/227045.html|title=Western Region Commander Brigadier General Phone Myat Appointed Deputy Minister of Border Affairs|work=The Irrawaddy|access-date=24 March 2024|date=28 July 2020|archive-date=17 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230217093425/https://burma.irrawaddy.com/news/2020/07/28/227045.html}}
Brigadier General Thin Latt Oo {{cite web|url=https://myawady.net.mm/content/အနောက်ပိုင်းတိုင်း-စစ်ဌာနချုပ်-တိုင်းမှူးဒိုင်း-ဘောလုံးပြိုင်ပွဲ-ဖွင့်ပွဲပြုလုပ်|title=Western Region Military Command Commander Opens Football Tournament|work=MWD Webportal|access-date=24 March 2024|date=30 May 2021}} (Kyit - 25099) (VTC - 73) (Former Military Academy Director)
Brigadier General/Brigadier General Kyaw Swa Oo (Kyit - 26753) (Taza - 22) (Former Attack Strategy Academy Director) 2024–Present{{cite web|url=https://burmese.narinjara.com/news/detail/66020de33ff7472d6b5fec3c|title=Military Council's Western Region Commander is Brigadier General Kyaw Swa Oo|work=narinjara|access-date=26 March 2024|date=26 March 2024 }}

Collapse of the Military Headquarters

On 26 September 2024, the Arakan Army (AA) launched an attack on the Western Command and military camps in the Ann Township, Central Rakhine State. At 1:40 PM on 20 December 2024, the military headquarters was completely captured, and Brigadier General Thaung Tun, the deputy township administrator of Napaka (Ann), along with Brigadier General Kyaw Kyaw Than, the township chief officer, were arrested. This marks the second loss of a military headquarters in Myanmar's military history, following the collapse of the Northeastern Command.{{cite web|url=https://burmese.voanews.com/a/rakhine-aa-fighting-update/7908173.html|title=အမ်းအခြေစိုက် ရခိုင်စစ်တိုင်းဌာနချုပ်ကို AA သိမ်းပိုက်|work=VOA Burmese|access-date=21 September 2024|date=20 September 2024}}

References

Category:Military units and formations of Myanmar