(Facebook post from the PHILLIPINES STAR on 25 July 2025.)
Thai and Cambodian soldiers have clashed along the
border between their countries in a major escalation that left at least 14
people dead, mostly civilians. The two sides fired small arms, artillery and
rockets, and Thailand also launched airstrikes.
Fighting took place in at least six areas on
Thursday, according to Thai Defense Ministry spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri, a
day after a land mine explosion along the border wounded five Thai soldiers and
led Bangkok to withdraw its ambassador from Cambodia and expel Cambodia’s envoy
to Thailand.
On Friday, Cambodia’s chief official in Oddar Meanchey province, Gen. Khov Ly, said clashes resumed early in the morning near the ancient Ta Muen Thom temple. Associated Press reporters near the border could hear sounds of artillery from early morning hours.
The official also said that at least four civilians
were wounded in Thursday’s fighting there and that more than 4,000 people have
been displaced from their villages along the border to evacuation centers. It
was the first account of any casualties from the Cambodian side.
The escalation represents a rare instance of
military conflict between member countries of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nation, though Thailand has tangled with Cambodia before over the border
and has had sporadic skirmishes with western neighbor Myanmar.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both
sides “to exercise maximum restraint and address any issues through dialogue,”
according to UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq. Thailand and Cambodia have blamed
each other for the clashes, alleging that civilians were being targeted.
In Bangkok, the Public Health Ministry said a Thai
soldier and 13 civilians, including children, were killed while 14 soldiers and
32 other civilians were injured. Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin
condemned what he said were the attacks on civilians and a hospital as
violations of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.
“We urge the Cambodian government to immediately
halt these war criminal actions, and return to respecting the principles of
peaceful coexistence,” he said.
Thailand’s Acting Prime Minister Phumtham
Wechayachai said the fighting affected four provinces. The Interior Ministry
was ordered to evacuate people at least 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the
border.
In Cambodia, several hundred villagers moved from their homes near the border to about 30 kilometers (18 miles) deeper inside Oddar Meanchey province. Many made the journey with entire families and most of their possessions on home-made tractors, before settling down with hammocks and makeshift shelters.
In the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, Defense
Ministry spokesperson Lt. Gen. Maly Socheata said his country deployed armed
force because “it has no choice but to defend its territory against Thai
threats.” The spokesperson insisted the Cambodian “attacks are focused on the
military places, not on any other place.”
Thailand also sealed all land border crossings
while urging its citizens to leave Cambodia. Officials said all seven Thai
airlines expressed willingness to help bring back any Thai nationals seeking to
return home from Cambodia. | via Associated Press
(Blogger’s Notes: Started by the leaked telephone call of Thai PM Paetongton to Cambodian Strongman Hun Sen, the border skirmishes between Thailand and Cambodia is now a serious border war killing tens of civilians and displacing thousands of civilians.
That Cambodian dictator Hun Sen is
exploiting the long-time political friction between Thai Army (The royalist
right-wingers aka Yellow Shirts) and the popularly elected Thai governments
(progressive centre-left majority aka Red Shirts) simmering for many decades in
Thailand.
By deliberately leaking the embarrassing phone call from Thai PM Paetongton (she even called him respectfully as UNCLE) the bastard has intentionally created a deep fissure between the RIGHT and LEFT in Thailand and now Thai Military seems to be disobeying Thai Government and expanding the border war to a full-scale war.
Funny thing about Cambodia was, just 45 years ago they were killing each others seriously in a civil war between the Royalists and the Communists. Notoriously-Crazy Khmer Rouge the Communists won the war and they then brutally forced the Cambodia back to so-called YEAR-ZERO and in the process they killed nearly two million Cambodian people, the quarter of total population back then.
Eventually the neighbouring Vietnamese Communists were truly sick of them and finally Khun Sen, one of the Khmer Communist officers, took the power with the help of invading Vietnamese Army. Khun Sen has been ruling Cambodia with iron-fist since then.)
