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Late one night last month, Iang Za Kim listened to blasts in a neighbouring village, followed by military aircraft flying overhead. She ran out her home to see a smoke cloud from a distance.

"We were petrified. We feared the regime's jets might attack us too. So we seized our essentials – some food and clothes and escaped to the forests encircling our village."

Her face trembles as she recounts the events of what occurred on 26 November in her village, found in Myanmar's western Chin area. She is one of numerous people who've abandoned their homes in the past few weeks following the Myanmar army began a fierce campaign of bombing runs, and a ground offensive in insurgent-controlled zones across the country.

Some from Chin state have characterized the regime's newest campaign as the fiercest it has launched in over three years. A large number of those uprooted have looked for safety in different areas of the state. Iang is among a group that entered into the Indian state of Mizoram. Now housed in a decrepit badminton court in a village, the group's meager possessions they were able to carry are contained in polyethylene bags.

An elderly man has had to escape his village at the age of 80, living in temporary huts in forests for days, before finally making it to safety.

"We are terrified of our own government. They are exceptionally brutal. Their military has come into our and other villages in the past, they've arrested people, mistreated them, and burned down homes," he says.

It isn't easy to speak to Burmese civilians openly. Myanmar's ruling junta restricts open movement in the country for foreign journalists. It took over the country in a military takeover in February 2021, not long after the last election.

Civilian Cost and Targeted Strikes

In its most recent campaign, the junta last week targeted a hospital in Rakhine State. Insurgent forces in Rakhine report at least 30 people were lost their lives and more than 70 injured.

A human rights organization states that from September onward at least several educational institutions and a number of places of worship in Chin State have been targeted by junta airstrikes, causing the death of 12 people including six children.

Verification shows the destruction of a school in a village on 13 October. Two students perished as they were in class. The bombs tore through their classrooms harming more than a dozen other students.

For a second time, a father and his young family – a wife and two young children - have been made homeless. Previously in 2021, soon after the coup, their home was razed in an air strike. They reconstructed their existence in K-Haimual village. Now they're displaced a second time.

"Words fail me to explain how painful and hard it is and what a difficult decision it was to make to leave. But we had to do it to survive," he says.

A Disputed Electoral Process

A prominent political group, which won landslides in the two elections before the coup, is banned from running as most of its senior leaders are in jail.

"We reject this 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 previous government was in power, we experienced a bit of democracy. But now all we do is grieve and lament," says Ral Uk Thang.

A resident believes the election will be fixed. "Should we cast a ballot 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 rounds, with a result anticipated around the end of January. Rebel groups have called it a farce.

Insurgent Frontline and Sacrifices

At a base of a leading insurgent force operating in the state, a leader states: "This vote is only being held to perpetuate military dictatorship. It's not about the public's voice."

He points out the areas where the fiercest combat is continuing. "Battalions of hundreds of soldiers trying to push into the northern part of Chin state from multiple fronts," he says. "The troops are being aided by air strikes, artillery fire and by unmanned aerial vehicles."

Access to such bases is highly unusual. Located within wooded hills, it is the core of the resistance against the junta in Chin state.

In a hospital at the base, a group of injured fighters were brought in overnight and had to undergo extensive medical procedures. Some of them have had to undergo amputations.

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

"While opposing forces withdrew we ran forward and I detonated a landmine. We were injured in the explosion. Then we were attacked from the air. The airstrikes make things very hard for us," states a wounded rebel. "Although I am amputated, if I must sacrifice my life I'm happy to make the sacrifice so that those who follow have a brighter future."

The effect of the ferocity of the recent campaign is visible in ward after ward at the hospital.

Yet, it's the backing and courage of many thousands of youths who took up weapons that have helped the rebels make rapid advances against a much more powerful rival.

Individuals such as 80-year-old the man hope that post-poll, the junta will retreat, and he will be able to repatriate.

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