For about two years, says 24-year-old Yan, a former Myanmar police officer, he risked his life pretending to serve the military junta while secretly spying for the armed resistance.
"I freed myself from unfair orders,” he said from a room in a town near the Myanmar border where he said he was taking refuge after fleeing the country in April. Yan declined to give his full name because of the threat to his life.
Myanmar's junta is facing the fiercest threat to its power since seizing control in a 2021 coup as it battles an unprecedented alliance of opponents while weakened by some internal dissent and defections.