Community-based organizations and civil society organizations in Thailand recently sent a letter to the kingdom’s House of Representatives (National Assembly) asking for protective measures from aerial attacks by the Myanmar military.

Aerial attacks by Myanmar forces have hit Thailand, caused damage in border areas and forced Thai locals to flee their homes in panic.

The English translation of the letter, published on 7 August, said that there have been ongoing and fierce armed battles along the Thailand-Myanmar border from the North in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son, and Tak provinces, down to Kanchanaburi and Ranong during the past two years, following the military coup in Myanmar. This has forced a massive number of people to flee from Myanmar to Thailand.

Meanwhile, the people who live along the border in Thailand continue to endure the impacts from aerial and land attacks by the Myanmar Army. This has caused widespread damage to the people in Thailand due to various incidents.

The letter also explained that since 27 March 2021, around Mae Sam Laep, Sob Moei District and Ban Tha Ta Fang, in Mae Sariang District, Mae Hong Son, Myanmar fighter jets have dropped bombs on the other side of the border and the Salween River. However, the fighter jets also intruded into Thailand’s airspace.

Various kinds of munitions have, as a result, caused damage to the property and houses of local people. Later on 28 April 2021, the clashes around the Dagwin military base, opposite Ban Tha Ta Fang, in Mae Sariang District, Mae Hong Son including the use of jet fighters and helicopters to drop bombs and machine gun fire from the aircraft, forced local Thai residents to seek shelter along the Salween River and start living in the forests near to the border.

Some of them remain at home to monitor the situation fearing that Myanmar’s fighter jets might launch an attack at nighttime. During such battles, local villagers managed to take photos of Myanmar’s warplanes flying in Thailand’s airspace above Ban Tha Ta Fang and published them on social media.

Nowadays, the warplanes keep bombing the area inside Myanmar’s Karen State close to the Thai border. Reconnaissance drones have also been dispatched there. The situation is said to be terrifying for the local villagers who work on their farms in Thailand.

Moreover, on 30 June 2022, Myanmar’s fighter jets flew over Ban Wale Nua, in Tambon Wale, Phop Phra District, Tak, and fired explosive shells causing the ammunition to fall into a palm plantation and some shrapnel caused damage to pickup trucks belonging to Thai residents about one kilometer from the border.

Myanmar’s fighter jets have even flown into the airspace of the city of Phop Phra district. The residents who suffered from the damage have urged the Thai military to contact their Myanmar counterparts demanding compensation. Eventually, they were only compensated by their insurance companies.

Nowadays, Thai residents living along the Moei River are gravely concerned about armed conflicts inside Myanmar as they have no idea when such intrusions will happen again as the armed conflicts continue unabated.

In February 2023, in Pak Chan, Kra Buri District, Ranong, Myanmar soldiers fired explosive shells at the opposition armed forces and civilian communities along the Myanmar border. This has caused the people in Myanmar to flee and seek shelter in Thailand’s palm plantations.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar Army’s explosive shells fell near cow sheds in Thailand causing casualties among the cattle and damaging sheds. The Thai military has come to remove any shrapnel from the area. However, none of the Thai authorities have asked local residents about the damage or the demands for remedy.

In July 2023, at the Thai border in Ban Sao Hin, Mae Sariang District, Mae Hong Son, the Myanmar Army sent fighter jets to drop bombs continually on a village on the Myanmar side. This has forced tens of thousands of villagers in Karenni State to flee for their lives by seeking shelter in Thailand and it does not appear the violence will soon end.

Apart from the above incidences, there have also been several other unreported violent events. According to the people’s sector, the situation will become more violent and a large number of people in Myanmar will continue to suffer from such indiscriminate aerial attacks.

The Myanmar Army has attacked even schools, hospitals, temporary shelters, and civilian villages. Nowadays, people on both sides of the river regularly panic whenever they hear the noise of planes. The farmers who work on their farms along the Thailand-Myanmar border have to always flee for shelter making it impossible for them to earn a normal living.

Such firing of shells and dropping of bombs by Myanmar’s fighter jets has continued unabated as the Myanmar Army is finding it more difficult to make inroads into the area by using its infantry troops. Therefore, it has to rely heavily on its aerial superiority. But, indiscriminate attacks have caused much damage to the civilians living along the border, both in Thailand and Myanmar. It has led to the destruction of their property and inflicted fear among the Thai people living along the border.

Such bombing and shelling targeting civilian structures is a violation of international law. In addition, Thailand has to host a large number of people who have fled for their survival and provides them with humanitarian help. At the moment, nothing has yet been done to make the villagers feel safer.

“As we are the organisations working along the border and have been aware of the situation, we feel gravely concerned about the situation along the border. The Thai government should therefore offer protection to the people living along the border to ensure they can earn their living normally. At least, some measures should be provided to prevent the intrusion of Myanmar’s fighter jets from causing damage to the civilian communities along the border. We fervently hope the National Assembly, as representatives of the people, can help to advocate for measures to protect the people along the border who have been suffering from the fallouts of the armed conflicts inside our neighboring country,” the CSOs said in their letter.

The letter was signed by the Salween Association, Mae Hong Son, the Hill Area and Community Development Foundation (HADF), the Spirit in Education Movement (SEM), the Sathirakoses Nagapradipa Foundation, the Friends Without Borders Foundation, the Network to Restore Nationality for Thai Diasporas in Phang-Nga, Ranong, Chumphon, Prachuab Khirikhan, the Legal Status Network Foundation (LSNF), and Burma Concern, which are working in the border areas.