Burma Army Resurgent in Chin State: Rangers Demonstrate "Never Surrender"
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In Nov. 2024, a Free Burma Rangers team joined with local Rangers to bring help, hope, and love to the people of Falam District, in Chin State. At the time, a fierce battle was being fought for the district capital, Falam town. The town is one of the major population and cultural centers of the Chin people and its liberation would go a long way toward freeing all of Chin State. The Burma Army held a fortified hilltop base in the center of town, calling in airstrikes and attacking people with mortars and sniper fire. Chin resistance units surrounded them, trying to eliminate the threat to their people either through forcing the surrender of the base or capturing it.
Much of Falam was destroyed by the fighting and most of the population had fled to the surrounding villages. Burma military jets regularly flew overhead, terrifying villagers and dropping bombs on their homes, schools, clinics, and churches. The fear was palpable. Many people slept in the jungle within sight of their homes, too afraid to risk a bomb falling on their roof in the night. Everywhere we went, villages were full of IDPs and public places like hospitals and schools stood vacant. The lack of safe schools was particularly heartbreaking for many parents and village leaders who were deeply concerned about their children growing up without an education. Some families were considering moving further away to find schools that were open.
On that mission one-and-a-half years ago, we trained over thirty young people in emergency medicine, reporting, and GLC, and then conducted a relief mission to Falam proper and the surrounding villages and IDP camps. Our team encouraged over 400 people - villagers, IDPs, resistance soldiers, and even captured Burma Army police. When we left, we earnestly prayed and hoped, alongside the people we had met, that the Burma Army would be pushed out and that peace and freedom would return to their home.
On Apr. 7, 2025, we were overjoyed to hear that the Burma Army stronghold had surrendered to Chin resistance forces. Airstrikes slowly began to diminish. People felt safe enough to return to their homes to rebuild. One of the villages we had helped was able to celebrate the re-opening of their school. As other Burma Army positions fell, there was real hope that all of Chin State might be free.
A little less then a year later, the Burma Army returned. Junta units launched a fresh offensive into Chin State. Hundreds of Burma Army troops cut a violent path toward Falam. Once again the people were driven from their homes and what little they had been able to rebuild was abandoned. Our Rangers documented the displacement of over 2,500 people. On Apr. 25, 2026, about a year after liberation, resistance troops withdrew from Falam, hoping to avoid any further damage to the historic city. Falam once again was under the control of the Burma Army.
One of our Chin friends wrote: "Thinking about how many lives were sacrificed to liberate Falam town still fills me with sorrow. Now we lost the town to the enemy. Whenever I think about going back to my homeland, my mind drifts to a dark place stained by violence and cruelty. I cannot even feel safe within my own thoughts anymore. Even though the fighting in Falam town has ended, for now, I still feel that weight. This trauma will remain with me for as long as peace is celebrated without justice or righteousness."
To have hope snatched away with such speed and violence is hard to reckon with. It causes us to question how to hold on to hope at all.
When asked what keeps him from giving up when towns change hands back and forth, Dave Eubank said: "...I've been in the same place, seeing the same village, liberated, burned, liberated, burned, back and forth five or six times...It's disappointing, it makes you sad, makes you feel tired. But then you realize God hasn't given up. I don't have to give up. These people haven't given up. We're relying on God's power, not ours, anyway. If He wants us here, he'll help us do something good. So as long as God has us here, we keep going."
Our Chin Rangers kept going. As the Burma Army advanced toward Falam and their jets and Y-12 aircraft pounded the town and surrounding villages with mortars and bombs, Chin Rangers responded, documenting the attacks, providing food and medicine, and sharing the Gospel. They helped over 200 IDPs and villagers spread across five villages and prayed with and encouraged Chin resistance soldiers who were under tremendous pressure. The team leader said:
"Because the people are in the jungle, NGOs will not help in this area. IDPs in the Falam area need shelter, food, clothes, and tarps. Also some villagers need medicine because there are no doctors and many of the people get common cold, kidney problem, stomach-ache, nerve pain, and need vitamins. There is no doctor so we visit the IDPs and do medical treatment and encourage people. Now every village faces difficult life because this area is very dangerous for transportation, to carry food supply and run away in the jungle. The Burma Army blocks major roads and takes people to work as porters. During the day time we visit the villages and IDP hiding spots. We do GLC program and do medical treatment, we give T-shirts and give food supply, give tarps. At night, we go visit churches and encourage villagers and IDPs, pray for them, preach the gospel. When we visit the people, they are very happy, some IDPs, old women and old men, are crying because of happiness from FBR help."
Even as we are writing this report, our Chin teams are gearing up for their next mission to once again bring help, hope, and love to the people of Chin State. The battle may have been lost but they still have love to give so they won't surrender. When asked what he wanted to say to people in the U.S., another of our team leaders said:
"Thank you, all American people, for remembering us in your prayers. We are truly saddened and heartbroken by the fall of Falam Town. Please keep praying for
1. Unity and solidarity among all Chin people.
2. The injured soldiers and families of fallen heroes.
3. That the civil war will end peacefully as soon as possible.
4. All displaced people, inside and outside the country, can return home and receive the needed humanitarian aid.
I pray for all the teams' protection, in Jesus' name."
Thank you for praying for our Rangers as they keep going. It is a huge encouragement to them and us to know there are so many praying.
Thanks and God bless you,
The Free Burma Rangers
