The junta and its ally, the Pa-O National Organisation (PNO) have retaken the section of the Union Highway that goes through Mobye (Mongpai) Town and large parts of Mobye Town in southern Shan State’s Pekon Township.

Junta soldiers and fighters from the Pa-O National Army (PNA), the armed wing of the junta-aligned PNO have taken control of large parts of Mobye Town, near to the border with Karenni State and heavy fighting is still ongoing there. 

On the evening of 2 July 2025, the junta began seizing control of the strategic Mobye Town wards of Zaykone and Tharyarkone which are on the Union Highway.

On 3 July, a resistance fighter said to NMG: “The junta and PNA troops are already near the stadium in the downtown area. Most of our guard posts in town have fallen. There is still intense fighting going on. Their artillery and air support are overwhelming, so it's getting harder and harder for us to hold out.”

The Karenni Nationalities Defence Force (KNDF) and allied resistance forces took control of Mobye Town on 13 November 2023, but they failed to take the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 442 base, about a mile outside the town.

As a result the junta and PNA soldiers were able to regroup at the LIB 442 base from where they started launching a major offensive to retake Pekon Town, in November 2024. They sent large numbers of soldiers from the base along the Pinlaung-Pekon Highway to attack Mobye Town and fired relentless artillery barrages into Mobye Town from there, as well as launching frequent airstrikes on the town.

Between early June and 3 July 2025, around 40 resistance fighters were killed during fighting in Mobye Township, including around Mobye Town. Among those killed were a company commander from KNDF Battalion 102 and a company commander from Battalion 1011 of the allied Pa-O National Defence Force (PNDF).

Now, after eight months of fighting, junta forces have managed to enter Mobye Town and resistance forces made up from fighters from the KNDF, the PNDF, the Demoso Local People's Defence Force (LPDF) and the Karenni People's Liberation Army (KPLA) are fighting to try to stop the rest of the town falling into junta hands. They are in dire need of ammunition and assistance.

Mobye Town is of great strategic value to the junta. The distance from the junta’s Southeast Regional Military Command in Taunggyi City, the capital of southern Shan State, to Loikaw City, the capital of Karenni State, is just 96 miles (about 154 km) when traveling through Mobye Town. But, when resistance forces hold Mobye Town the junta has to use a far longer 200 mile (about 322km) alternative route via Hsihseng Town in southern Shan State to travel between the cities of Taunggyi and Loikaw.

Another resistance force fighter said: “The route through Hsihseng is really tough for large vehicles to get through. So, if the junta can take control of Mobye, it’ll give them a big advantage. The junta sent a lot of conscripts from Pinlaung and Nyaungshwe Townships in southern Shan State for this offensive. The fighting is still ongoing and it’s too early to say how it will end.”

The junta has been intensifying its efforts to retake control of areas that have fallen to resistance forces ahead of the upcoming elections that it is organising for later this year or early next year, which have been condemned by the international community because they will not be free or fair.

If the junta takes Mobye Town it could lead to further junta operations in the Karenni State townships of Loikaw, Demoso, and Bawlakhe.