Thailand and Cambodia Exchange Heavy Fire Along Disputed Border

The Diplomat

4 days ago

The Thai and Cambodian militaries today exchanged heavy fire along their disputed border, killing and injuring at least 11 Thai citizens, in a significant escalation of an ongoing border dispute.
The fighting began with a clash early this morning at a disputed area in the vicinity of the Ta Muan Thom temple, which is perched along the border between Thailand's Surin province and Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province. Fighting then quickly spread to a series of five other areas along the border, with both sides deploying heavy weaponry including multiple-launch rocket systems, artillery, and armored vehicles.
In a statement this afternoon, the Royal Thai Army (RTA) said that nine civilians had been killed by Cambodian rocket fire, including an 8-year-old boy, and at least 14 injured. Six of deaths came when a Cambodian rocket – reportedly a Russian-made BM-21 – hit a gas station in Sisaket province. Two of the other deaths were in Surin province, and one was in Ubon Ratchathani province. The Thai Health Ministry has since amended the death toll to 11. Cambodia had not reported any casualties as of press time.
Thailand also deployed F-16 fighter jets against Cambodian military targets in the border area, the RTA's Second Military Region said, claiming to have 'destroyed' two Cambodian regional military support units.
The Thai army later announced 'the complete closure of all border checkpoints along the Thai Cambodian border.' Both sides have ordered the evacuation of civilian populations from the affected border regions, and have urged their nationals to leave the other country.
The fighting brings to a crescendo a dispute that has been steadily escalating since May 28, when Thai and Cambodian soldiers clashed along a stretch of undemarcated border further to the east, leaving one Cambodian soldier dead. Since then, relations have fallen to their lowest point since the dispute over Preah Vihear temple in 2008-2011, which resulted in a series of short but deadly armed clashes.
The Thai and Cambodian governments have blamed each other for the outbreak of fighting this morning. The Thai military said in a statement that heavily armed Cambodian troops fired at a Thai base close to Ta Muen Thom temple at around 8:20 a.m., shortly after deploying a surveillance drone in the area. Cambodia's Defense Ministry countered that Cambodian troops retaliated after an 'unprovoked incursion' by Thai troops and 'acted strictly within the bounds of self-defense.'
As the fighting escalated, the Ministry condemned what it described as Thailand's 'brutal and illegal military aggression' against Cambodia. Prime Minister Hun Manet also wrote to the U.N. Security Council requesting that it convene an urgent meeting, accusing Thailand of launching 'unprovoked, premeditated, and deliberate attacks on Cambodian positions along the border areas.'
'It is profoundly reprehensible that this act of aggression occurs while Cambodia is actively pursuing peaceful and impartial legal avenues to resolve outstanding border issues with Thailand through both bilateral and international mechanisms,' he stated.
In a Facebook post, Hun Manet's father, Senate President Hun Sen, called on the Cambodian public 'not to panic, hoard rice or goods, or raise prices on essential items.'
The eruption of the dispute into open conflict came a day after a Thai soldier lost a leg in a landmine explosion along the border, an incident that prompted Thailand to withdraw its ambassador to Cambodia, expel Cambodia's envoy to the country, and seal all of the border crossings in its northeast – including closing access to Ta Muen Thom temple. Thailand's government claimed that Cambodia had laid fresh mines along the border. Phnom Penh has denied the accusations, stating that the Thai soldiers had deviated from agreed-upon patrol routes and that the mines were left over from Cambodia's decades-long civil war.
With fighting ongoing along a wide arc of the border, the situation seems likely to get worse before it gets better. Nationalist sentiments are now inflamed on both sides of the border, making it hard for either government to take steps to call a ceasefire and de-escalate tensions. Relations between the two governments and their leaders are also at a low ebb, after Hun Sen, who remains the locus of power in Cambodia despite handing the prime ministership to his son in 2023, engineered the leak of a phone call he had with Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra last month. The 38-year-old Thai leader has since been suspended by the Constitutional Court pending an investigation into her conduct during the call, during which she accused a Thai general of siding with her political opponents. The leak marked a major breach of regional diplomatic norms and shattered the once-friendly relationship between the Hun and Shinawatra clans.
In a post on X, Paetongtarn's father, the former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who earlier described the leak of the phone call as a 'betrayal,' claimed that Hun Sen ordered the attack on Thai territory 'after laying explosive traps along the border,' the Bangkok Post reported.
'Thailand has exercised patience and restraint, and we have been following international law and fulfilling our duties as a good neighbor,' Thaksin wrote. 'From now on, Thai forces can respond according to tactical plans, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can determine various measures with legitimacy.'
In comments to CNN, Thitinan Pongsudhirak described how this 'family vendetta' could complicate a resolution to the crisis. 'The Shinawatra family now are very angry with Hun Sen,' he said. 'Now it's not just about Thai-Cambodia but the Shinawatra family that has been compromised.'