Junta and Arakan Army Resume Heavy Fighting Along Sittwe-Ponnagyun Border After Month-Long Lull

Fighting broke out on the morning of September 4, 2026 along the Sittwe-Ponnagyun township border in Rakhine State, ending a roughly month-long lull in combat around the state capital. Regime forces deployed heavy artillery, multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS) and combat drones from positions including the Shwe Min Gan naval base area, while the Arakan Army (AA) returned fire with artillery, drones and small-arms. Shells landed in Kuntaung, Padetha and Yarchaung villages and in Ponnagyun town itself; a woman was injured on September 4. Thousands of residents fled Ponnagyun and Rathedaung townships — including the villages of Tabethlan, Yarchaung, Ahtelthae, Hsininngyi, Yayphyukan and Chaungwa in Ponnagyun, and Aungseik, Thanchaung, Kalarchaung, Aungma, Magyichaung, Angumaw, Kyetyoeseik and Sarpyingyi in Rathedaung. Fighter jets and artillery also damaged the 450-year-old Gu Wa Pagoda in Ponnagyun, destroying many of its roughly 500 Arahat statues in the third such attack on the site. The clashes come as the AA maintains a siege of Sittwe from within roughly 2km, having already captured 14 of Rakhine's 17 townships.