Trump-Brokered Truce Under Threat As Thailand-Cambodia Fighting Reignites

BANGKOK/PHNOM PENH, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Thailand said warplanes struck Cambodia on Monday in an attempt to cripple Cambodia’s military capability as a renewed border clash derailed a fragile ceasefire brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Both sides blamed the other for starting clashes that broke out overnight, intensified before dawn and spread to several locations, resulting in the killing of a Thai soldier and four Cambodian civilians, according to officials.

Cambodia accused Thailand of “inhumane and cruel acts” and emphasized that it did not retaliate, while Bangkok said it launched airstrikes on military targets after its neighbor mobilized heavy weapons and repositioned combat units.

“The army’s aim is to cripple Cambodia’s military capacity for a long period of time for the safety of our children and grandchildren,” said General Chaipruak Doungprapat, chief of staff of the Thai army, according to the army.

The clashes were the fiercest since a five-day exchange of rockets and artillery in July that left at least 48 people killed and 300,000 displaced before Trump intervened to broker a ceasefire. This marked the heaviest fighting in recent history.

Tensions have been rising since Thailand last month suspended de-escalation measures adopted at a summit attended by Trump after a Thai soldier was injured by a mine that Bangkok said was newly laid by Cambodia.

Some of the mines that have injured seven Thai soldiers since July were likely newly laid, Reuters reported in October, based on expert analysis of materials shared by the Thai military.

Cambodia denied laying mines, and Thailand said it would not enforce ceasefire terms until Cambodia apologized.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Monday that his government will do whatever is necessary to preserve territorial integrity and will not engage in dialogue with Cambodia.

“There will be no meeting. If the hostilities are to end, (Cambodia) must do what Thailand has determined,” he said, without elaborating.

Cambodia’s defense ministry said its forces had come under constant attack but that they were adhering to a ceasefire and did not retaliate.

“Cambodia calls on the international community to strongly condemn Thailand’s violations, as well as demanding that Thailand take full responsibility for such brazen acts of aggression,” the statement said.

The Thai military said Cambodia used drones to drop bombs on Thai bases and fired truck-mounted BM-21 rockets at civilian areas.

A Thai military official told Reuters that the targets in the airstrikes included long-range Chinese-made rockets. The U.S. embassy in Thailand did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the unrest.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, head of ASEAN, the regional bloc that helped Trump broker the ceasefire, called for calm and for communication channels to remain open.

“Renewed conflicts risk undoing the careful work that has gone into stabilizing relations,” Anwar said in an X post.

Hun Sen, Cambodia’s former leader and influential father of current prime minister Hun Manet, said the Thai military was trying to provoke a retaliatory response.

“All frontline forces must remain patient as attackers fire all kinds of weapons,” he said on Facebook.

Thailand evacuated 438,000 civilians in five border provinces, and authorities in Cambodia said hundreds of thousands of people had been moved to safety. The Thai army reported that 18 soldiers were injured, while the Cambodian government reported that 9 civilians were injured.

Local television showed truck and car bottlenecks forming on rural roads in Cambodia, and motorcycles and agricultural vehicles leaving border areas.

A verified eyewitness video showed a plume of smoke rising after a Thai airstrike.

Thai television broadcast images of people crammed into evacuation camps and others sheltered in shelters or large concrete water pipes, and the military released a video of what it said was Cambodian artillery guns exploding.

Phichet Pholkoet, who lives in the Ban Kruat region on Thailand’s border with Cambodia, said he had been hearing gunshots since the early hours of the morning.

“It startled me. The explosions were very clear. Boom boom!” he said over the phone. “I could hear everything clearly. Some were heavy artillery, some were light weapons.”

The use of fighter jets demonstrates Thailand’s military advantage over Cambodia, with its armed forces dwarfing its neighbor in personnel, budget and weapons.

Thailand and Cambodia have squabbled over sovereignty at unspecified points along their 817 km (508 mi) land border for more than a century; Disputes over ancient temples fuel nationalist fervor and occasional armed clashes, including a deadly week-long artillery barrage in 2011.

Tensions rose after a Cambodian soldier was killed in action in May; This led to a massive troop buildup at the border and led to diplomatic crises and armed conflicts.

(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal and Martin Petty; Editing by John Mair and Michael Perry)