A junta spokesman did not respond to calls from Reuters seeking comment. The current size of the anti-junta resistance is now likely higher with the emergence of more resistance groups as the conflict drags on, analysts said. The Tatmadaw, as the military is known, has not publicly declared the size of its fighting force in recent years. A dozen people eligible to serve also told Reuters that they would rather leave the country than join the military. "They couldn't send backup troops in Rakhine battles," AA spokesman Khine Thu Kha told Reuters via phone.

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Persons: Richard Horsey, Nobel, Aung, Suu Kyi, Ye Myo Hein, Generals, Anthony Davis, Miemie Winn Byrd, Htet Myat, Min Aung Hlaing, Andrew Selth, Selth, Khine Thu Kha, Devjyot, Miral Fahmy Organizations: Reuters, United States Institute of Peace, British, U.S ., Griffith Asia Institute, Arakan Army, Reuters Staff Locations: China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Suu, U.S, Rakhine