Fighting between Cambodia and Thailand escalated along their contested border on Tuesday, as the Southeast Asian neighbours both said they would not back down in defending their sovereignty.
With each side blaming the other for starting Monday's renewed clashes, it was unclear how or if a fragile ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump in July could be salvaged.
Cambodia's influential former leader Hun Sen said his country waited 24 hours to honour the ceasefire and allow for evacuations before launching counterattacks overnight against Thai forces.
"Cambodia needs peace, but Cambodia is compelled to counterattack to defend our territory," he said in a Facebook post, saying strong bunkers and weapons gave Cambodian forces the advantage in defending against an "invading enemy".
Thailand says it carried out air and ground operations along the Cambodian border as hostilities escalated, breaking the U.S. brokered ceasefire that halted five days of clashes in July.
Fighting that began overnight on Monday spread across several locations before dawn, with both Thailand and Cambodia accusing each other of initiating the violence.
Thai authorities confirmed one soldier killed, while Cambodia reported four civilian deaths. Officials on both sides said the clashes were among the most intense since the summer.
A senior Trump administration official said the U.S. expected both countries to honour commitments to end the conflict.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who helped facilitate the earlier truce as ASEAN chair, urged restraint and warned of renewed instability if communication channels collapsed.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called on Thailand and Cambodia to avoid further escalation and said the United Nations was prepared to support efforts to restore stability.
Cambodia’s former leader Hun Sen said the exchanges appeared designed to provoke retaliation but urged Cambodian forces to remain restrained.
Breakdown of the July ceasefire
The July ceasefire, negotiated after five days of rocket and artillery exchanges that killed at least 48 people and displaced 300,000, had reduced hostilities but left underlying tensions unresolved.
Last month, Thailand suspended de-escalation steps agreed at a summit attended by U.S. President Donald Trump, citing the maiming of a Thai soldier in a landmine blast.
Thai officials said seven soldiers had been wounded by mines since July, and believe some devices were newly planted. Cambodia denied laying new mines and said it remained committed to the ceasefire terms.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said there would be no talks unless Cambodia met conditions set by Bangkok. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said Thailand must stop using military force near civilian areas.
Thailand evacuated 438,000 civilians across five provinces near the border, while Cambodian authorities said hundreds of thousands had been moved inland.
Cambodian television broadcast images of congested rural roads, filled with trucks, motorbikes, and farming vehicles, as people left affected regions.
A verified eyewitness video showed smoke rising after a reported Thai airstrike. Thai broadcasts showed families entering evacuation centres, others taking shelter in bunkers or large concrete pipes. Residents described hearing a mix of small arms fire and heavy artillery throughout the morning.
Thailand and Cambodia share an 817 km border that remains undemarcated at several points, particularly around areas containing historic temples.
These locations have been the focus of nationalist sentiment and periodic military engagements. A week-long artillery exchange in 2011 resulted in casualties on both sides and drew international attention.
Tensions resurfaced in May after a Cambodian soldier was killed during a skirmish, prompting a troop buildup and a breakdown in diplomatic communication. With both sides now accusing each other of violating previous agreements, the path back to negotiation remains uncertain.
The widening war between Iran, U.S. and Israel is leaving civilians and soldiers caught in its wake. Thousands are stranded across the Gulf, flight...
The U.S. military's Central Command said on Tuesday that Iran has launched over 500 ballistic missiles and ...
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev highlighted the country's gas exports to Europe and rene...
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a full U.S. trade embargo on Spain on Tuesday after the European ...
An Israeli strike on a four-storey residential building has killed at least four people and wounded six others ...
Thailand released 18 Cambodian soldiers on Wednesday, ending their 155-day detention. This comes after a ceasefire agreement between the two countries halted 20 days of fighting that killed over 100 people and displaced more than half a million. The soldiers were handed over at a border checkpoint.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief: here are the top news stories for the 27th of December, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Thailand and Cambodia agreed to halt weeks of fierce border clashes, the worst fighting in years between the Southeast Asian neighbours, which has included fighter jet sorties, rocket fire and artillery barrages, on Saturday.
Military representatives from Cambodia and Thailand met in Chanthaburi province on Wednesday ahead of formal ceasefire talks at the 3rd special GBC meeting scheduled for 27th December.
The Kremlin is utilising the recent United States and Israeli military strikes on Iran to validate its ongoing war in Ukraine. Russian officials are pointing to the escalation in the Middle East as evidence that Western nations do not adhere to international rules.
Saudi Arabia’s state oil giant Saudi Aramco closed its Ras Tanura refinery on Monday following an Iranian drone strike, an industry source told Reuters as Tehran retaliated across the Gulf after a U.S.-Israeli attack on Iranian targets over the weekend.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the U.S. military has enough stockpiled weapons to fight wars "forever"; in a social media post late on Monday. The remarks came hours before conflict in Iran and the Middle East entered its fourth day.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has held talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov following recent military strikes carried out by the United States and Israel on targets in Iran, as tensions in the Middle East continue to rise.
China expressed serious concern over the escalating conflict in Iran, confirming that one Chinese national was killed in Tehran. Beijing called for an immediate halt to military operations and a return to diplomatic talks, while other Asian countries have also voiced their positions on the crisis.
Strikes across the Middle East are intensifying, fuelling travel disruption, driving up global energy prices and forcing diplomatic missions to shut their doors.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States has a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and is capable of sustaining military action indefinitely, as the conflict with Iran entered its fourth day.
The United Nations has called for an investigation into a deadly attack on a girls’ primary school in Iran, which Iranian officials say has killed more than 100 children. The U.S. has said its forces “would not” deliberately target a school.
U.S. first lady, Melania Trump chaired a UN Security Council meeting on children and education in conflict on Monday (2 March), a move criticised by Iran as hypocritical following U.S. and Israeli strikes that triggered a UN warning about risks to children.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 3rd of February, covering the latest developments you need to know.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment