Footage shows Burmese locals battling to flee conscription by queueing at the Thai embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, on February 15.

Residents hope to avoid the raging conflict in their homeland by taking refuge in neighbouring Thailand.

It comes as the junta - which ousted and jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi with a coup in February 2021 - this week announced a compulsory draft for at least 60,000 men.

Military resources have dwindled amid ongoing resistance from civilian and rebel groups across the country.

Under the law, men aged 18 to 35 and women 18 to 27 can be drafted into the armed forces for two years. A higher age limit of 45 for men and 35 for women applies in certain professional categories such as medical doctors and engineers, and their term of service is three years.

Myanmar, or Burma, was once a treasured part of the British Empire from 1824 to 1948, next to the jewel in the crown, India.

Rudyard Kipling's poem Mandalay proudly proclaimed 'Come you back you British soldier', such was the affection for its diplomatic presence.

But the country has struggled to progress following independence.