New Clashes Break Out Between Thailand and Cambodia

Thailand has carried out airstrikes along its disputed border with Cambodia after both countries accused each other of violating a ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump. As fighting intensified, four Cambodian civilians and one Thai soldier were killed.

The Thai military said it deployed aircraft on Monday to stop Cambodian attacks after a Thai soldier was killed in Ubon Ratchathani. Thai officials said Cambodian troops fired small arms and indirect weapons, and confirmed the soldier’s death. Cambodia rejected this account, saying in a Facebook statement that Thai forces launched the first attack at 5 a.m. local time.

Relations between Thailand and Cambodia have been shaped by centuries of tension, with repeated clashes along their 800-kilometre (500-mile) border. The territorial dispute dates back to a 1907 map drawn when Cambodia was a French colony, which Thailand argues is inaccurate. Tensions worsened after the International Court of Justice awarded disputed territory to Cambodia in 1962, a ruling reaffirmed in 2013. Fighting between the two sides occurred repeatedly from 2008 to 2011.

The renewed violence has forced people to flee on both sides of the border. Thailand’s Second Army Region said nearly 35,000 people have been relocated from border areas. In Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province, local officials said villagers were fleeing to safer areas, and schools were closed on Monday due to the unrest.

Tensions escalated in May when troops exchanged fire in a disputed area, killing a Cambodian soldier. A series of retaliatory actions followed, eventually flaring into open conflict in July. The ceasefire was reached after Trump warned that trade talks would be halted unless calm was restored, alongside mediation efforts by Malaysia and China.