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During the evening last month, Iang Za Kim listened to detonations in a neighbouring village, then fighter jets flying overhead. She ran out her home to see smoke rising in the distance.

"We were terrified. We thought the junta's planes would bomb us too. So we seized our essentials – some food and clothes and fled into the woodlands around our village."

She visibly shakes as she recounts the story of what happened on 26 November in her community, located in Myanmar's western Chin State. She belongs to numerous people who've abandoned their homes in the past few weeks following the Myanmar army began a fierce campaign of aerial attacks, coupled with a land assault in resistance territory throughout the nation.

People in Chin state have labeled the regime's newest campaign as the most intense it has unleashed in over three years. A large number of those uprooted have looked for safety in other regions of the state. Iang belongs to a group that crossed the border into India's Mizoram state. At present residing in a dilapidated badminton court in a village, the group's few belongings they were able to carry are stored in sacks.

An octogenarian has had to flee his home at the age of 80, residing in improvised dwellings in forests for days, until at last finding refuge.

"We are terrified of our own government. They are extremely cruel. Their military has entered our and other villages in the past, they've taken citizens, tortured them, and destroyed residences," he says.

It is difficult to converse with Burmese civilians freely. Myanmar's military government prohibits free access in the country for overseas correspondents. It took over the country in a military takeover in February 2021, soon after the last election.

Humanitarian Toll and Deliberate Attacks

During its latest offensive, the junta recently targeted a hospital in Rakhine State. Insurgent forces in Rakhine say at least 30 people were lost their lives and more than 70 injured.

A human rights organization says that since mid-September at least multiple schools and six churches in Chin State have been targeted by junta airstrikes, killing 12 people comprising six children.

Reports indicate the shelling of a school in a community on 13 October. Two students perished as they were attending lessons. The bombs devastated their classrooms harming more than a dozen other students.

Once again, a father and his small family – a wife and two young children - have been made homeless. Back in 2021, soon after the coup, their home was destroyed by fire in an air strike. They reconstructed their existence in another village. Now they're displaced a second time.

"Words fail me to explain how agonizing and challenging 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 Disputed Electoral Process

The former ruling party, which won landslides in the two elections before the coup, is not participating as its key figures are in jail.

"We don't want the election. Because the military is incapable of govern our country. They only work for the benefit of their senior officers. When the elected administration was in power, we experienced a taste of democracy. But now all we do is grieve and lament," says Ral Uk Thang.

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

The election will take place in stages, with a result anticipated around the end of January. Insurgent organizations have called it a pretense.

Insurgent Battleground and Losses

Within a compound of a key resistance organization operating in the state, a senior official states: "This election is only being held to prolong military dictatorship. It's not about the public's voice."

He points out the areas where the fiercest combat is taking place. "Battalions of hundreds of soldiers trying to push into the northern part of Chin state from multiple fronts," he says. "The infantry are being supported by air strikes, artillery fire and by drone units."

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

Within a clinic at the base, numerous injured fighters had arrived overnight and had to undergo extensive medical procedures. Some of them have had to undergo surgeries.

Several were just schoolboys when the coup occurred in 2021. Just about adults now, they've abandoned their dreams to serve in the conflict against the junta.

"While opposing forces withdrew we ran forward and I detonated a landmine. We were injured in the explosion. Then we were targeted by aircraft. The airstrikes make things very hard for us," explains a combatant. "Although I am amputated, should I lose my life I'm happy to make the sacrifice so that those who follow have a improved existence."

The consequence of the intensity of the latest offensive is apparent in every corner at the hospital.

However, it's the support and grit of tens of thousands of youths who picked up arms that have helped the rebels make rapid advances against a far stronger rival.

People including 80-year-old the elderly refugee hope that post-poll, the junta will retreat, and he will be able to repatriate.

"However, I doubt I will live to see democracy restored in Myanmar," he says. "I hope my children and grandchildren can witness it some day."