Members of a Christian humanitarian group are serving victims in a war zone. The Free Burma Rangers have been helping Christians in Myanmar for more than 20 years.
Since a coup in 2021, the ruling military junta is attacking its own people, putting hospitals and churches in the line of fire.
This longstanding conflict in Myanmar, also known as Burma, has escalated dramatically in recent years. The country, ruled by a military dictatorship, has brutally cracked down on dissent.
Free Burma Rangers leader Dave Eubank explains, “This is the longest-running war in the world, 73 years. However, in the last two years, it’s ramped up. That’s because the dictators have clamped down even more.”
For years, the conflict stayed mainly between the government and ethnic hill tribes. It’s now expanded to include many everyday Burmese as well.
“Well, then the ethnic forces have always been fighting and they ran to the ethnics to get arms and take out a few and start fighting and formed what’s called people defense forces,” Eubank says.
Those bearing the brunt of the government attacks, however, are civilian targets, not rebel militias.
Eubank says, “We had over 200 airstrikes in two months. Every other airstrike hit a hospital, a church, or a displaced person hiding place. That’s very intentional. Every single hospital hit at least once. They’re all hiding in the jungle now. In Burma now, you have 3 million people internally displaced since the coup in just the last two years. We have over 6,000 civilians killed by the junta in the last two years alone.”
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Suzanne Eubank says, “Here near Pekon, the Burma Army bombed this medical clinic and medical unit that had an ambulance. And there are several others of those like it.”
It’s not just in Ukraine that Russia is linked with civilian casualties; Kremlin support is also fueling the deadly attacks here in Burma.
Eubank explains, “We don’t know if there’s Russian pilots in the planes, but we do know there are Russian planes, Russian trainers, Russian military systems, Russian attack helicopters coming at us. And the main target is civilians.”
Despite the violent onslaught, Eubank and his team bring the light of hope in the midst of the chaos.
“I must have peace, Jesus, that no matter what happens, You’re going to make it okay,” he prays. “I’ve asked for You to protect us, but if You don’t, it’s okay. We’re in Your hands. We’re doing this out of love.”
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