Thailand-Cambodia updates: Renewed fighting kills more civilians, soldiers

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You can read about the Trump-brokered peace agreement and why it is on the brink of collapse here.

Watch Thailand’s foreign minister tell Al Jazeera that the renewed border conflict between the two countries provides no space for a diplomatic solution here.

Watch Thai civilians huddle in bunkers and Cambodian children flee classrooms as border clashes erupt here.

This live page will be closing soon. Here are the day’s major developments:

• More than 30 foreign ambassadors and UN representatives gathered for an urgent briefing with Cambodia’s leaders.
• Cambodia has accused Thailand of “profound immorality” after it said an attack destroyed the ancient Prasat Ta Krabey temple in Oddar Meanchey province.
• Cambodia’s civilian death toll has reached nine, with 20 people injured. The Thai military says three soldiers have been killed and 68 people injured.
• Tens of thousands of people living along the border areas have evacuated to shelters.
• Thailand’s foreign minister told Al Jazeera there was no space for diplomacy in the current conflict and that a peace deal “must come from Cambodians – they must stop the way they’ve been doing things”.
• A top adviser to Cambodia’s prime minister says the country is open to immediate bilateral talks with Thailand.
• China has urged Thailand and Cambodia to “exercise restraint” to prevent further escalation. France and Australia have condemned the clashes and called for a ceasefire.

The US is concerned by continued fighting and casualties along the Cambodia-Thailand border, the State Department said.

“We strongly urge the immediate cessation of hostilities, the protection of civilians, and for both sides to return to the de-escalatory measures outlined in the October 26 Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Cambodia is open to immediate bilateral talks with Thailand to bring a halt to a raging border conflict, a top adviser to its prime minister said after the neighbours accused each other of violating a ceasefire brokered by President Trump.

“Let’s say one hour from now, both sides agree to be on the table and then start communication,” Suos Yara, senior adviser to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, told the Reuters news agency.

“This would be a very good idea.”

The Trump-brokered peace agreement between Thailand and Cambodia is on the brink of collapse.

Trump has claimed to have stopped at least eight wars since he took office in January. But several of the conflicts he claimed to have resolved continue to fester.

Since the multi-phase Gaza ceasefire deal was announced by the US president in October, Israel has killed more than 400 Palestinians in violation of the deal. He mediated a deal between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda in October, but that has not ended the fighting.

Read more here on what’s up with the other wars Trump “ended”.

More than 140,000 civilians have fled the areas near where jets, tanks and drones are waging battle.

“When is this going to stop?” pleaded Thai farmer, 56-year-old Samlee Tahan, who has stayed behind at her rural home in the border province of Surin to guard her livestock.

“I want this to end already. It has been prolonged for the second time.”

Fighting has forced Cambodian civilian Poan Hay, 55, to again flee shelling and fighter jets howling above her border home in Oddar Meanchey province.

“It is my fourth time fleeing,” she said. “I don’t know when I can return. I want the international community to help Cambodia and tell Thai soldiers to stop.”

More than 21,000 people have been displaced from three Cambodian border provinces, Phnom Penh says, while Bangkok says more than 125,000 civilian evacuees are camping out in 500 makeshift shelters.

As we’ve been reporting, Thailand suspended implementation of the ceasefire last month after a land mine blast wounded several of its soldiers. Here’s what we know about the incident:

• Last month, four Thai soldiers were injured in a land mine blast that Cambodia claimed took place in an old minefield.
• Thailand demanded an apology and said it would pull out of the ceasefire, claiming the mines were newly laid.
• Confusion then ensued when Malaysian news site Bernama erroneously quoted Malaysia’s foreign minister saying a team of regional inspectors had concluded the land mines were not new.
• Bernama quickly clarified that the correct quote was that ASEAN observer teams had reported “they were new landmines”.
• Since then, ASEAN observers have not officially made public any reports or conclusions from their on-site visits.

China has urged Thailand and Cambodia to “exercise restraint” to prevent further escalation.

“As a friend and close neighbour of Cambodia and Thailand, China sincerely hopes that both sides exercise restraint and work in the same direction to prevent further escalation,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said during a news conference in Beijing.

“China will continue to play a constructive role in de-escalation,” he added.

The Chinese embassy in Thailand urged its citizens to avoid travelling to areas along the Thai-Cambodian border.

Last week, Thailand said it seized $300m in assets related to cyberscamming – including from several prominent Cambodian tycoons – as tensions rose with its neighbour.

Here’s what to know about scam centres and how they’ve aggravated the conflict:

• Since 2020, hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into scam centres in Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, where they are forced to defraud strangers online.
• Thailand has become increasingly frustrated with use of its banking system for money laundering, as well as the trafficking of its own citizens, rights groups say.
• As relations began deteriorating with Cambodia in May, Thailand zeroed in on scamming in border areas, saying it posed a threat to national security.
• Since then, Thailand has issued an arrest warrant for powerful Cambodian businessman Kok An, raided 19 of his properties and stripped his children of citizenship.
• The country’s anti-money laundering body has also seized assets from Cambodian tycoons Ly Yong Phat, Yim Leak and Chen Zhi, a naturalised citizen whose conglomerate, Prince Group, was recently sanctioned by the US and UK.
• Rights groups have separately accused Thailand of complicity in scamming, with trafficking victims regularly flowing over its borders into Myanmar and Cambodia.

Thailand says four soldiers have been killed and 68 injured.

As of yesterday evening, about 400,000 people had been evacuated.

Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence says nine civilians have been killed and 20 injured. More than 20,000 were evacuated.

We are at an evacuation centre in the town of Surin, about 40km (25 miles) from the border.

Centres like this one on both sides of the border are filling up once more with people escaping the fighting.

They have been coming here in the thousands since the fighting picked up on Monday morning. There have been accusations on both sides that the other side started this flare-up. Amid this swirl of claims and counterclaims, these centres are filling up with people wondering when this latest bout of fighting will be over and when they will return home.

Fighting has been going on for decades, but this time we are hearing of incidents along the whole length of the disputed border area, about 800km (500 miles) long.

The threat of tariffs should not be used to pressure Thailand to start talks with Cambodia and halt renewed border fighting, Thailand’s foreign minister has told Reuters news agency.

After fierce clashes between the Southeast Asian nations in July, President Trump intervened by telling leaders of both countries their negotiations with the US for lower trade tariff rates would be put on hold unless they stopped fighting.

“We don’t think tariffs should be used to pressure Thailand to get back to the joint declaration, to get back to a dialogue process,” Sihasak Phuangketkeow said.

“You have to separate the issue of Thai-Cambodia relations from the issue of the trade talks.”

• Official name: Ratcha Anachak Thai (Kingdom of Thailand)
• Capital: Bangkok
• Government type: Constitutional monarchy
• Head of state: King Vajiralongkorn
• Population: 66,200,000 (2025 estimate)
• Total Area: 513,140sq km (198,123sq miles)
• Monetary unit: Thai baht
  

  

More than 30 foreign ambassadors and UN representatives have gathered for an urgent briefing with Cambodian leaders.

The Cambodian foreign and defence ministries convened the group this morning, the Defence Ministry wrote in a Facebook post, with photos of figures including the British and Russian ambassadors in attendance. ASEAN ceasefire observers participated virtually.

During the meeting, Cambodia pushed back against Thailand’s assertions that it had restarted the conflict, saying it “reaffirmed Cambodia’s firm stance and commitment to respecting and implementing the ceasefire … with the highest sense of responsibility and goodwill”.