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Late one night last month, a resident heard explosions in a neighbouring village, and subsequently fighter jets flying overhead. She dashed from her home to see smoke rising in the distance.

"We were terrified. We believed the junta's planes could strike us too. So we grabbed what we could – provisions and garments and escaped to the woodlands encircling our village."

She visibly shakes as she tells the events of what occurred on 26 November in her village, found in Myanmar's western Chin area. She belongs to countless residents who've evacuated their homes in the past few weeks after the Burmese military launched a fierce campaign of air strikes, and a ground offensive in rebel-held areas across the country.

Residents of Chin state have labeled the military's recent operation as the most intense it has launched in the past three years. Countless refugees have found shelter in different areas of the state. Iang is part of a group that entered into India's Mizoram state. Currently sheltered in a dilapidated badminton court in Vaphai, the group's limited items they were able to carry are contained in polyethylene bags.

An octogenarian has had to flee his home at the age of 80, staying in improvised dwellings in the wilderness for days, prior to eventually finding refuge.

"We fear our own government. They are exceptionally brutal. Their military has come into our and other villages in the past, they've arrested people, abused them, and set houses ablaze," he says.

It is challenging to converse with Burmese civilians without restriction. Myanmar's ruling junta prohibits unfettered entry in the country for international reporters. It took over the country in a putsch in February 2021, not long after the last election.

Humanitarian Cost and Targeted Strikes

As part of the newest operation, the junta last week targeted a hospital in Rakhine State. Rebel groups in Rakhine report at least 30 people were lost their lives and more than 70 hurt.

A human rights organization states that from September onward at least several educational institutions and six churches in Chin State have been targeted by military bombing, causing the death of 12 people including six children.

Reports indicate the destruction of a school in Vanha village on 13 October. Two students lost their lives as they were studying. The bombs ripped through their classrooms injuring more than a dozen other students.

This is the second time, Bawi Nei Lian and his loved ones – a wife and two young children - have been uprooted. In 2021, shortly after the coup, their home was destroyed by fire in an air strike. They rebuilt their lives in K-Haimual village. Now they're displaced a second time.

"It's hard to express to explain how painful and hard it is and what a heart-wrenching call it was to make to leave. But we had to do it to stay alive," he says.

A Questioned Election

The National League for Democracy party, which won decisive victories in the two elections before the coup, will not be contesting as the majority of its leadership are in jail.

"We don't want the election. Because the military does not know how to govern our country. They only work for the gain of their high-ranking leaders. When the civilian leadership was in power, we experienced a measure of democracy. But now all we do is weep and mourn," says the elderly man.

A resident believes the election will be fixed. "If we participated for a party independent from the military, I believe they will tamper with the results and claim we voted for them."

The vote will occur in phases, with a result projected around the end of January. Insurgent organizations have declared it a farce.

Insurgent Battleground and Losses

In a headquarters of a prominent rebel group operating in the state, a vice chairman states: "This election is only being held to perpetuate military dictatorship. It's not about the will of the people."

He points out the areas where the fiercest combat is ongoing. "There are columns of hundreds of soldiers trying to enter the northern part of Chin state from four directions," he says. "The infantry are being supported by air strikes, artillery fire and by drone units."

Entry to such bases is highly unusual. Situated in wooded hills, it is the core of the fight against the junta in Chin state.

Within a clinic at the base, a group of injured fighters had arrived overnight and had to undergo lengthy operations. Some of them have had to undergo amputations.

Several were just schoolboys when the coup occurred in 2021. Just about adults now, they've set aside their dreams to fight on the frontline against the junta.

"As the enemy was retreating we ran forward and I stepped on a landmine. We were injured in the explosion. Then we were attacked from the air. The airstrikes make things very challenging for us," says one injured fighter. "Despite my injury, even if I've to give up my life I'm happy to make the sacrifice so that coming generations have a better life."

The impact of the ferocity of the latest offensive is apparent in room after room at the hospital.

Nevertheless, it's the determination and resolve of tens of thousands of young people who took up weapons that have helped the rebels make significant gains against a better-equipped rival.

Individuals such as 80-year-old the elderly refugee hope that after the election, the junta will withdraw, and he will be able to go back home.

"Yet I believe I will live to see democracy restored in Myanmar," he says. "I pray my children and grandchildren can see it some day."