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Young men trapped between war and conscription in Myanmar’s Rakhine

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The renewed fighting is the latest crisis to hit Rakhine which endured waves of communal violence in the years before the coup [AFP]

Young men trapped between war and conscription in Myanmar’s Rakhine

Since war resumed in his native Rakhine State last November, Thura Maung has seen his options narrow.

The 18-year-old, from the state’s ethnic Rakhine majority, first fled his home in the coastal town of Myebon in December, when clashes between the military and autonomy-seeking Arakha Army – formerly known as the Arakan Army – seemed imminent.

He and his family escaped by boat, travelling along river inlets at night to avoid being seen by the military. They returned a few days later, but fled twice more over the following months as the fighting escalated.

By February, the military and AA were battling for control over Myebon, and Thura Maung could hear shelling from the village where he had taken shelter. The military had also blocked the movement of goods and shut down the internet in areas affected by the conflict, leaving his family struggling to make ends meet.

With his university effectively closed due to the fighting, he felt his dreams slipping away. “There were no opportunities for my life to develop, and I saw no future,” he said.

It’s a feeling shared by Zubair, an ethnic Rohingya from Rakhine State’s northern Maungdaw township. The 24-year-old was doing an internship with a civil society organisation focused on peacebuilding when the fighting broke out and his office closed.

Soon, he was running from the war as well as a military conscription drive targeting Rohingya men. “We weren’t able to stay at home, go to work or even sleep on time,” he said. “Time that we could’ve spent working on our futures was wasted.”

Zubair and Thura Maung are part of a new generation of young people across Myanmar whose lives have been turned upside down by the 2021 military coup. In Rakhine State, people had already lived through years of communal conflict and a brutal 2017 military crackdown on the mostly Muslim Rohingya. The escalating violence between the military and AA has only made matters worse, according to Karen Simbulan, a human rights lawyer specialising in conflict sensitivity in Rakhine.

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“With the most recent renewed fighting and the looming threat of forced conscription, many who had persisted and stayed in Rakhine despite everything are seeing their futures taken away from them,” she said. “Many are taking significant risks to flee to safety, often putting themselves in highly vulnerable situations just to survive.”

Al Jazeera spoke with four young men from Rakhine State about the effects of the conflict on their lives. They have all been given pseudonyms to protect their safety.

‘Stirring up communal tensions’

The renewed fighting is the latest crisis to hit Rakhine State, home to Daingnet, Mro, Khami, Kaman, Maramagyi, Chin and Hindu minorities as well as the Rohingya, and the mostly Buddhist Rakhine majority. A category four cyclone hit the region last May, following successive waves of violence in the decade leading up to the coup.

In 2012, mobs of ethnic Rakhine and Rohingya people attacked each other with sticks and knives and burned each other’s homes, leaving dozens dead and some 140,000 forced from their homes. Afterwards, the military imposed tough restrictions on Rohingyas’ movement and access to services, while continuing to deny them citizenship under a discriminatory 1982 law.

The situation deteriorated dramatically in 2016 and 2017 when the military killed thousands of Rohingya civilians and committed widespread sexual violence and arson following attacks on military outposts by a Rohingya armed group. Its “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine State drove more than 750,000 people into neighbouring Bangladesh, and the crackdown is the subject of continuing genocide proceedings at the International Court of Justice.

The AA stepped up its fight for autonomy in late 2018; over the next two years, Rakhine State endured some of the most intense armed clashes seen in Myanmar in decades. The military also indiscriminately bombed and shelled civilian areas, committing what Amnesty International identified as war crimes.

The military and AA reached an informal ceasefire in November 2020, just three months before the generals seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Weeks later, the military cracked down on peaceful protests across Myanmar with gunfire and arrests. An armed uprising soon followed; by mid-2021, all-out war had erupted across the country.

Existing ethnic armed organisations trained and fought alongside anti-coup People’s Defence Forces (PDF), but the AA mostly stayed out of the fray, instead focusing on establishing governance mechanisms in its territory through its administrative wing, the United League of Arakan.

That changed last October, when the AA joined ethnic armed groups fighting on Myanmar’s eastern border with China to launch Operation 1027 declaring their intent to eradicate “oppressive military dictatorship”.  Within weeks, they had seized strategic territory and other resistance groups were launching new offensives across the country. On November 13, the AA brought the war to Rakhine soil with coordinated attacks on military positions.

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The AA and its allies have since driven out the military from most of central and northern Rakhine State as well as Paletwa township in neighbouring Chin State. Following tactics it has long used to punish communities harbouring armed resistance, the military has retaliated with full-scale attacks on AA-controlled and contested areas by air, land and water while cutting off transit routes, communication channels and access to medical care for entire populations.

Hundreds of civilians have been injured or lost their lives and more than 185,000 people displaced across Rakhine State and Paletwa since November out of more than three million that the United Nations says have been displaced across the country, mostly as a result of the coup.

Through its forced conscription of Rohingya men as well as by demanding they protest against the AA, the military is also deliberately working to threaten years of fragile progress towards reconciliation between Rakhine and Rohingya communities, according to Simbulan, the conflict sensitivity specialist.

“The military is once again resorting to stirring up communal tensions because it is desperately losing ground in Rakhine,” she said. “As the expected de facto authority in Rakhine, the AA needs to heed its own words that this is a military tactic to divide communities, and not fall into the trap the military has set.”

Fear of conscription

Zubair, in Maungdaw, said that the conflict and military conscription drive left him feeling like the military was attempting to “destroy our Rohingya youth … from every angle”.

Since November, he has repeatedly been forced to flee his home due to the conflict. “Our village was attacked a lot, so we moved to another village which was less attacked,” he said. By February, he was also running from military conscription. Human Rights Watch reported in April that the military had used methods including false offers of citizenship, nighttime raids and abduction at gunpoint to conscript at least 1,000 Rohingya men, some of whom it sent to fight on the front lines against the AA.

In Maungdaw, Zubair said he had been unable to sleep since military soldiers took his neighbours from their home one night in March because he was fearful he might be next. The military was also blocking the roads between villages, leaving him and other young people with few places to go. “We ran inside the village,” said Zubair. “When we heard that [soldiers] were coming from one direction, we ran in another.”

Then, the military ordered the Maungdaw hospital to close, leaving Zubair’s father, who needs to use an inhaler because of a respiratory disease, unable to access medical care.

By April, heavy fighting between the military and AA had reached Rakhine State’s northern townships, alongside a series of devastating arson attacks across neighbouring Buthidaung township whose perpetrator remains disputed.

With a fight for control over Maungdaw looming, Zubair and his parents sneaked across the Naf river into Bangladesh one night at the end of May.

Now staying in the world’s largest refugee camp, Zubair rarely leaves his shelter, fearing that he could be robbed by other camp residents or arrested by Bangladeshi police, who sent back more than 300 people between February and April, according to the research and advocacy group Fortify Rights.

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“I need to be cautious every time I go outside,” he told Al Jazeera.

After escaping to nearby villages, Thura Maung, the Rakhine youth, also left the state due to the conflict. On February 9, he travelled by boat for two days to the state capital of Sittwe, and then boarded a plane bound for Myanmar’s largest city of Yangon.

He landed to find a city in chaos. While he was in transit, the military had announced plans to activate conscription from April, prompting a mass exodus from areas under its control. Thura Maung, who had planned to enrol in language classes in Yangon, could not find a course accepting new students and also feared conscription himself. So a week later, he began the trip back to Myebon, which had just been captured by the AA.

As soon as his flight touched down in Sittwe, however, he was arrested at the airport along with the other passengers on his flight. Held without charge at a Buddhist religious centre, military soldiers took his mugshot, interrogated him and searched through his phone.

He is among hundreds of people who have been detained by the military while travelling to or within Rakhine State since February. In March, the military also ordered travel agents and bus operators to stop issuing tickets to Rakhine State natives.

While these actions may have been intended to stop the flow of information and recruits to the AA, for Thura Maung, they had the opposite effect. Nearly a week after he was arrested, he sneaked away and headed towards an AA camp. “I felt lost,” he said. “I attempted to enter the AA without letting my parents know, because I thought it was the only certain thing I could do.”

A relative talked him out of it, however; now back in Myebon, where he is safe from military conscription because the AA controls the town, he still fears he could become the next victim of the military’s attacks. “I feel safer living in Myebon, but I still have to worry about air strikes,” he said.

‘Survival is my priority’

Tun Tun Win, a 24-year-old ethnic Rakhine, was also arrested at Sittwe airport. He had been attending language classes in Yangon when fighting broke out between the military and AA; although he had initially stayed in the city, he changed his plans in February. “Although there is ongoing conflict in Rakhine, I felt more secure living with my family than living alone in Yangon under the conscription law,” he said.

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Fleeing one danger, however, he was soon caught up in another. Like Thura Maung, soldiers took him away at the airport and interrogated him for several days at a Buddhist religious centre before he managed to sneak away. Now back home in Myebon, he faces a new set of struggles. “Currently, survival has become my priority rather than pursuing my ambition and plans,” he said.

Arkar Htet, a 27-year-old ethnic Rakhine from a village on the outskirts of Sittwe, also saw his plans fall apart after the conflict broke out. He was running an online delivery service and working as a dance instructor but stopped both after the military imposed a nighttime curfew and stepped up its surveillance and arrests. “I feared going outside even in the afternoon,” he said.

But even at home, he did not feel safe. As the military and AA battled for control over the town of Pauktaw, 30 kilometres (19 miles) northeast, military shells whizzed over his roof, as well as jet fighters on their way to bomb the town.

By January, the AA controlled Pauktaw, but the military had burned most of it down. As the fighting shifted to areas around Sittwe, Arkar Htet and his family fled by boat on February 29. Stray fire injured a passenger on the way; back in the city, about a dozen people died when shelling hit a portside market.

Arkar Htet and his family managed to reach a village under the AA’s control in Ponnagyun township, and in early April, he told Al Jazeera that he felt “70 percent safe”.

Less than two months later, on May 29 and 30, the military raided Byaing Phyu village, just a few kilometres from the village from which Arkar Htet had fled. According to the AA, military forces killed 72 civilians and raped three women; the military has denied the claims.

Then on June 1, the military bombed a village in Ponnagyun township next to the one where Arkar Htet had taken shelter, killing two civilians. Al Jazeera has been unable to get in touch with him since.

Young men trapped between war and conscription in Myanmar’s Rakhine

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

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Trump’s Peace Envoys Arrive in Moscow as Russia Bombs Ukraine Airports Overnight

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September 5, 2026

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Trump's Peace Envoys Arrive in Moscow as Russia Bombs Ukraine Airports Overnight

Trump’s Peace Envoys Arrive in Moscow as Russia Bombs Ukraine Airports Overnight

Trump’s special negotiators arrive with a peace proposal as Russian strikes target Kyiv’s airports overnight, prompting Ukraine’s leader to accuse Moscow of trying to derail the diplomatic mission.

US President Donald Trump‘s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner landed in Moscow on Saturday for high-stakes talks aimed at ending more than four years of war in Ukraine. Their plane touched down at Vnukovo Airport at 12:52 pm local time, where they were met by Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, who shared photos of the meeting on social media with the caption, “Welcome to Moscow Peacemakers.” The diplomatic push comes as Russian strikes hit Kyiv’s two airports overnight, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accusing Moscow of trying to disrupt the envoys’ visit. Zelensky stated on X that the attacks were “a reaction to the discussions and preparations for the possibility of the US side using an aircraft to travel to Ukraine.” He added there would be “no threats to diplomacy” from the Ukrainian side. The Russian strikes were “demonstrative,” Zelensky said, and targeted both Kyiv and Boryspil airports “for the first time in a while.”

Trump described Witkoff and Kushner as “two great negotiators” and confirmed they are bringing “a proposal to end the war.” However, he declined to say whether the plan involves Ukraine ceding territory, adding only: “We have an idea for peace.” The visit marks the first trip to Kyiv by Witkoff and Kushner since Trump returned to office last year and promised to bring the war to an end. Both envoys have made several trips to Moscow, with their last visit taking place on January 22, when they held four hours of late-night talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin. After their talks in Moscow, the envoys are expected to travel to Kyiv on Sunday. This would be an unusual move, as Ukrainian airspace has been closed since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, with foreign leaders typically traveling to Kyiv by train from Poland. However, plans for the delegation to arrive by plane have been thrown into doubt. A Ukrainian lawmaker, Aleksey Goncharenko, said two old Soviet Yak-40 passenger planes were struck at Zhulyany airport, suggesting the strike was intended as a “signal” to Washington ahead of the visit. A source told Reuters that discussions on the Ukraine portion of the trip were still ongoing, adding: “The Russians don’t want them to visit Kyiv and are trying to make them change the plan.”

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Zelensky reported that Russia struck both Kyiv and Boryspil airports overnight, describing the attacks as “deliberate” and “for the first time in a while.” Separately, a Russian strike on a civilian target in the Dnipro region killed four people and wounded five in the southeastern city of Kamianske. Russian forces also struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU security service in central Kyiv on Friday, with Zelensky stating the attack was aimed at the office of the agency’s acting chief. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga described the incident as a “major escalation.” Despite the attacks, Zelensky proposed observing a ceasefire with Russia for the duration of the US envoys’ trip. “There will be no airstrikes on our part, and Russia must reciprocally ensure a ceasefire — without its own airstrikes — for the duration needed to conduct these talks,” he said in his evening address. In what may be a partial response to that proposal, Putin ordered a 72-hour pause in strikes on Kyiv starting at midnight Saturday, the Kremlin announced. “Putin has ordered that no strikes be carried out against Kyiv for three days,” presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Tass, tying the decision to preparations for the envoys’ planned visit to the Ukrainian capital.

The renewed push for diplomacy comes as Russia and Ukraine intensify long-range missile and drone attacks, driving up civilian casualties to levels not seen since the start of the conflict. Peace efforts have stalled in part because of Washington’s war with Iran. Moscow and Kyiv last held peace negotiations under US mediation earlier this year, when they held three rounds of peace talks in January and February. Negotiations have since been paused. Russian officials have signaled they are not in the mood for compromise. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state media that “the US administration must take into account the realities on the ground,” where the situation is changing not in Kyiv’s favor. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the position that Putin set out two years ago – that Ukraine should cede the entire territory of four regions claimed by Russia and abandon its plan to join NATO – was “unshakeable.” Putin himself said on Thursday there was a chance of reaching an agreement to end the war, but he added that Kyiv’s warning to foreign airlines to avoid Russian airspace amounted to a threat that would make talks more difficult. This is not the first attempt at diplomacy. Witkoff and Kushner have traveled repeatedly to Moscow in previous efforts, including three rounds of US-mediated talks earlier this year in Abu Dhabi and Geneva. Their latest effort comes more than a week after a rare visit to Moscow by CIA director John Ratcliffe, who warned Russia against any attack on NATO member states, according to US media. Earlier this week, the United States welcomed the Russian finance minister at a G20 gathering in North Carolina.

Trump’s Peace Envoys Arrive in Moscow as Russia Bombs Ukraine Airports Overnight

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FBI Arrests Podcaster Over Alleged Threats to Kill President Trump

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September 3, 2026

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FBI Arrests Podcaster Over Alleged Threats to Kill President Trump
Azariah Southworth

FBI Arrests Podcaster Over Alleged Threats to Kill President Trump

Federal agents in Los Angeles have arrested American podcaster and online commentator Azariah Southworth, 40, over allegations that he repeatedly threatened to kill US President Donald Trump and stalked the president’s personal lawyer and his family . Southworth was taken into custody at his home in the Westlake area by FBI agents who surrounded the residence and demanded he come out; he surrendered without incident . The arrest marks the latest in a series of federal prosecutions targeting individuals who have made violent threats against the president, reflecting the government’s zero-tolerance approach to political violence .

According to court documents, prosecutors allege that Southworth used his media presence to spew hatred for Trump and his supporters, calling for the assassination of the president on multiple occasions between January and May 2026 . In a video posted on April 7, Southworth allegedly stated: “I have been vocal in calling for the execution of Donald Trump” and declared, “This government is illegitimate and out of control. It’s time for course correction. Kill Donald Trump” . In a January text message exchange with an associate, Southworth allegedly said: “If I encounter any Trump official in-person, I’m seriously afraid I will end up in Jail” and added, “But if I could Kill him, I wouldn’t waste the opportunity” . In the same conversation, he reportedly said: “But GOD I want that mother—-r and his minions dead” . In March, prosecutors say Southworth posted another video calling for the death of Trump, saying: “I want to practice my free speech as a survivor of conversion therapy for five years. Kill Donald Trump. Kill that mother—-g pedophile in the White House. Kill that traitor of the United States Constitution” . These statements, prosecutors argue, were not merely hyperbolic expressions of political disagreement but constituted deliberate and serious threats against the life of the sitting president .

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In April, Southworth allegedly posted an edited video depicting himself teleporting into the White House Oval Office, standing behind Trump, and raising a knife up to Trump’s head as if he was about to stab him . Before the screen goes dark, a woman’s scream is heard, and a listing for Southworth’s website appears, advertising “Criminally Insane ANTIFA GEAR” . Later that month, he posted more videos on his YouTube and Instagram accounts depicting fictitious portrayals of acts of violence against President Trump and said that his earlier statement, “Kill Donald Trump,” was “just rhetoric” . Prosecutors, however, argue that the combination of verbal threats, visual imagery, and merchandise promoting violence demonstrates a pattern of behavior that goes far beyond protected speech and crosses into criminal conduct .

Southworth also made a post to his now-deleted Instagram account addressing his followers in the event of his arrest . He stated: “I am making this video today in the event of my arrest. It has been a long-held belief that calling for the execution of the president of The United States will get you put on a list or arrested” . He added: “I have friends who are concerned this will happen to me as I have been vocal in calling for the execution of Donald Trump” . Prosecutors allege that Southworth said his words knowingly and willfully, and intended them to be taken seriously . The pre-arrest video, which appears to anticipate legal consequences, may be used by prosecutors as evidence that Southworth was aware of the illegality of his statements and chose to make them anyway .

Beyond the threats against the president, Southworth is also accused of targeting a lawyer who worked for Trump . In a January post on his TikTok account, prosecutors say Southworth listed the lawyer’s home address in Brentwood, Tennessee, along with a photograph of the residence, with the caption: “Visit Trump’s personal lawyer. No peace for traitors” . In February, he began texting the lawyer’s son, accusing him of defending pedophiles and child traffickers . He later took to Instagram and posted the personal telephone numbers of the lawyer’s son and his immediate family members, saying: “Do you want to spice up your love life this Valentine’s Day? Then call one of these numbers and let these people know they are pieces of s—t” . Around that time, Southworth called the lawyer and his family at least 13 times and hurled insults at them, prosecutors say. In one chilling voicemail, he reportedly said: “There’s going to come a day when justice comes to your door” . The stalking allegations paint a picture of a sustained campaign of harassment that extended beyond political rhetoric to direct targeting of private citizens, escalating the seriousness of the federal charges .

Southworth faces federal charges including threatening the President of the United States, cyberstalking, and interstate telephone harassment . If convicted on all counts, Southworth could face up to 12 years in federal prison . First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli stated: “Southworth is charged with posting videos calling for President Trump’s assassination, then targeted the family of the President’s personal attorney by publishing their home address and phone numbers, and leaving voicemails threatening ‘justice comes to your door'” . Essayli added: “Threats against the President of the United States are federal crime. We will not tolerate threats of political violence in the United States. My office will prosecute anyone who crosses that line to the fullest extent of the law” . FBI Special Agent Armando Marquez denounced Southworth’s actions, saying the “U.S. Secret Service has zero tolerance for threats against the President of the United States” . The statements from federal officials underscore the government’s determination to prosecute what it views as a growing trend of violent rhetoric directed at political figures .

Southworth, who formerly hosted a Christian reality show called The Remix, is an advocate for gay rights and describes himself as an “artivist” on his website, where he continues to sell stickers that say “Kill Donald Trump” . He came out of his house and surrendered to FBI agents without incident and refused to answer questions . The allegations against Southworth have not been proven in court, and he remains presumed innocent unless convicted . His arrest comes amid heightened security concerns surrounding Trump and continued federal investigations into threats against the president . The case has drawn attention to the balance between free speech protections and the prohibition against true threats, a legal distinction that will likely be central to Southworth’s defense as the case proceeds through the federal court system .

FBI Arrests Podcaster Over Alleged Threats to Kill President Trump

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US passport policy: Trump administration considers new checks on parents’ citizenship status

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September 3, 2026

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US passport policy: Trump administration considers new checks on parents’ citizenship status

US passport policy: Trump administration considers new checks on parents’ citizenship status

The US State Department is considering a new passport policy that could require parents and legal guardians to provide proof of their US citizenship or immigration status when applying for passports for children.

The proposed change is part of the administration of US President Donald Trump’s broader effort to implement new restrictions on birthright citizenship and prevent what it describes as “birth tourism”.

Under the proposed guidance, parents applying for a US passport for a child could be required to submit documents establishing their own citizenship or immigration status in the United States. Possible documents could include a valid US passport, birth certificate, immigration records or a permanent resident card.

The proposal, however, is not currently a blanket requirement for all parents applying for children’s passports. The State Department is still considering the guidance, while Trump’s broader birthright-citizenship order is being challenged in court.

The proposed passport checks are linked to Trump’s August 6 executive order, which seeks to prevent the federal government from recognising US citizenship for certain children born in the United States based on the circumstances surrounding their parents’ citizenship or immigration status.

The order specifically addresses situations involving children whose parents fall into certain categories, including some foreign government employees, individuals classified under the order as “alien enemies” and people accused of using commercial arrangements or fraud to obtain birthright citizenship.

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The Trump administration has defended the policy as an effort to protect the meaning and value of American citizenship and to discourage foreign nationals from travelling to the United States primarily to give birth.

If adopted, the proposed passport guidance could give federal officials additional information when determining whether a child falls within the categories affected by the executive order.

That could be particularly significant for families involving foreign nationals, undocumented immigrants, temporary visa holders and US-born children, depending on how the final guidance is written and whether the underlying executive order survives the ongoing legal challenges.

Under existing US passport rules, applicants must generally provide evidence that the child is a US citizen, establish the parent-child relationship and provide acceptable identification. A US birth certificate, valid US passport, Consular Report of Birth Abroad or Certificate of Citizenship can serve as evidence of citizenship.

The proposed policy could introduce an additional layer by requiring information about the parents’ citizenship or immigration status, rather than focusing solely on evidence establishing the child’s citizenship.

The development comes amid a major legal battle over Trump’s attempt to alter the interpretation of birthright citizenship in the United States.

On September 2, US District Judge Deborah Boardman issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of Trump’s August 6 order against children covered by a class-action lawsuit. The judge found that the challengers were likely to succeed in their argument that the order was unconstitutional.

The court decision creates another obstacle for the administration as it attempts to implement its new approach to birthright citizenship.

The dispute follows an earlier Supreme Court ruling concerning Trump’s broader attempt to restrict birthright citizenship. The legal battle has left the administration’s proposed changes subject to continuing court proceedings.

For parents, the distinction between the proposed passport policy and existing passport requirements is important.

The State Department has not announced that every parent must now provide proof of immigration status before a child can receive a US passport. Rather, officials are considering whether such documentation should become part of the passport process in cases affected by the administration’s interpretation of the new citizenship order.

The final outcome will depend on both the State Department’s administrative decisions and the courts’ rulings on the constitutionality and enforceability of Trump’s birthright-citizenship policy.

Until new guidance is formally issued and takes effect, families applying for children’s US passports should continue to follow the existing passport requirements and avoid relying on reports suggesting that the proposed parental checks are already universally mandatory.

The issue is expected to remain contentious because any change could affect how the US government determines citizenship for children born in the country and how that citizenship is documented through the passport system.

US passport policy: Trump administration considers new checks on parents’ citizenship status

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