Thailand launched large-scale artillery, air, and rocket strikes on Cambodia on Monday, the sharpest escalation since a ceasefire mediated by President Donald Trump at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur.
The attacks came despite the Kuala Lumpur Peace Accord, an expanded ceasefire Thailand and Cambodia signed this summer to end their 2025 border crisis. The agreement, witnessed by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, built on a July truce and required both sides to withdraw heavy weapons, clear land mines, allow ASEAN monitoring, free prisoners of war, and restart diplomatic and trade ties.
Leaders at the signing cast the deal as a turning point, with Trump and other mediators credited for cooling months of deadly clashes.
That optimism has vanished. After weeks of worsening conditions along the border, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul declared “peace is over” as Thai forces pushed into Cambodian territory.
The BBC continues:
In October, both sides signed a ceasefire agreement during a ceremony with US President Donald Trump in Malaysia. At the time, Trump claimed a historic achievement in ending the border conflict.
But just two weeks after that signing, Thailand said it would suspend the implementation of the agreement, after two of its soldiers were injured in a landmine explosion near the Cambodian border.
Cambodia, which nominated Trump for a Nobel peace prize for his role in brokering the ceasefire, has repeatedly claimed it is committed to the deal.
Thailand and Cambodia have been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800km land border for more than a century, since the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.
Footage posted online appeared to show a Thai artillery strike destroying a Cambodian army outpost in Choam Khsant District. The dramatic image exemplifies the broader confrontation that began with cross-border shelling hours earlier and forced about 35,000 civilians to evacuate.
Elsewhere, Thai F-16s reportedly struck Cambodian positions.
Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defense released what it said was a detailed timeline of Thai attacks beginning at 8:40 a.m. on Dec. 8, including toxic gas use, airstrikes, artillery fire, and tank movements near disputed temples. The ministry said Cambodian forces had not retaliated.
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Here we go again.