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A coalition of rebel armed groups known as the Three Brotherhood Alliance has been taking over towns and claiming control of more than 200 military outposts in northern Myanmar, in a push to overthrow a military regime that appears to have lost most of the country's territory. 

Nearly three years after army leaders seized power in a coup, Myanmar's gruelling civil war may have reached a turning point with the attacks, known as Operation 1027, prompting China to step in. 

And as the violence increases, so do human rights abuses: the United Nations reports an increase in alleged war crimes, which include torture, executions and air strikes targeting civilians.

For this episode if Asia Matters, host Paolo Bosonin interviewed the head of the United Nations' Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, Nicholas Koumjian, and the analyst and former BBC editor Tin Htar Swe.