War has returned to the border between Thailand and Cambodia. This Tuesday is the second day of armed clashes. At least eight people have been killed since hostilities resumed along the disputed border, with allegations of rocket and drone attacks in some areas. Thailand and Cambodia are locked in a historic territorial dispute which emerges for the third time so far in 2025.
Some 400,000 people living along the border separating the two Southeast Asian countries have been evacuated. The United States has asked both countries to stop the fighting and respect the peace agreement supported by Donald Trump, signed months ago and which now looks like a dead letter.
Thailand and Cambodia had pledged to maintain peace in a conflict that had lasted for almost a century. its conflicting 800 kilometer land borderbut they returned to arms. The governments of the two countries once again accuse each other of having fired first.
Who shot first
This Monday, the Thai army bombed Cambodian targets after reporting the death of a Thai soldier in a shootout. Cambodian military commanders said four civilians were killed in two border provinces. This Tuesday, news emerged of shots fired in six of Thailand’s seven provinces sharing a border with Cambodia.
Thailand says Cambodian troops They fired heavy weapons, including BM-21 rockets.against civilian areas. The Thai military accuses Cambodia of deploying special operations units and snipers to the border, digging trenches to fortify its positions and invading Thai territory in the coastal province of Trat.
On the other hand, the Cambodian army claimed that the Thais had carried out continuous shooting all night in several border areas. using large drones and toxic smoke. Seven Cambodian civilians were killed and around 20 injured, according to the country’s Interior Ministry. Thailand reported that one of its soldiers had been killed.
The previous days, Cambodia would have mobilized heavy weapons and repositioned combat units, according to the Thai Air Force’s accusations. The Cambodian Ministry of Defense denies this. His army claims that Thai forces had “participated in many provocative actions for several days”, without specifying details.
More and more Spanish tourists
- Thailand and Cambodia are destinations open to global tourism. Many Spaniards come to this part of Asia every year. In 2024, Thailand received 35.54 million international visitors, including 207,710 Spanish travelers (there were 189,000 in 2019), according to Hosteltur. The number of Spanish visitors increases every year, as does their spending there. Cambodia’s tourism sector is also growing, although it mainly welcomes tourists from China, Vietnam and Thailand. In 2024, it exceeded pre-pandemic figures: from January to November, it welcomed 6 million international tourists. There is no definitive data for 2025, but everything indicates that the armed conflict has affected the arrival of visitors.
Thailand’s military superiority
Thailand has a more advanced military than Cambodia’s, with advantages in air power, naval capacity and defense spending. The Thai army occupies the location 25 from the Global Firepower evaluation list in 2015, for 95 from Cambodia.
The Thai army has 585,850 soldiers, including 360,850 on active duty, 200,000 in the reserves and 25,000 in the paramilitary army. This is more than double that of Cambodiawhich has 231,000, including 221,000 on active duty and 10,000 in the paramilitary army.
Thai authorities have 493 military aircraft, compared to 25 in Cambodiaaccording to Global Firepower. The Thais operate fighter jets such as the Saab Gripen and F-16, as well as other helicopters. The Cambodians have more rocket-launching aircraft, with 463 compared to 26, suggesting their priority is artillery and ground fire.
Anugya Chitransh, senior security analyst for Southeast Asia at security firm International SOS, said: News week that he The Thai army is also more advanced and has better financing than Cambodia.
The battles of May and July
This resumption of hostilities between the two nations It already happened last Mayafter the death of a Cambodian soldier during an exchange of fire between the two armies. Thailand took control of border crossings, imposed crossing restrictions and threatened to cut off electricity and internet access to Cambodian border towns. In return, the Cambodian side suspended imports of Thai fruits and vegetables and banned Thai films and television series.
SO, in July, five days of fighting along the border has caused the deaths of at least 40 people and the displacement of approximately 200,000 people on both sides of the border.
In late July, the Thai and Cambodian governments agreed to a ceasefire, brokered in part by Trump. In In October, a tenuous peace deal was reachedsigned in the presence of the US president, but in November the Thais suspended peace talks.
Thailand is one of the oldest allies of the United States. But Cambodia also did its best to curry favor with the White House, he said. The Independent. In fact, it was one of the first countries to strongly support a Trump nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Furthermore, his government has made more progress in finalizing a trade deal with Washington than Thailand, whose economy is much larger and more complex.
Warmongering rhetoric on both sides of the border
On Monday, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters in Bangkok that “Cambodia must follow Thailand’s orders to stop the fighting. When reminded of the U.S.-backed peace deal, he responded, “I don’t remember.” » A few hours later, his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sihasak Phuangketkeow, alluded to the cnn that clashes could continue “until we consider that sovereignty and territorial integrity are not threatened.”
From Cambodia, Hun Sen, the country’s former influential leader and current Senate President, posted a message on Facebook. “Our armed forces, of all kinds, They must counterattack at all times where the enemy attacks, he writes.
Nearly a century of border conflict
The historical dispute between the two countries has its origins in their land border, which It was largely developed by France in 1907, when it was a colonial power in this part of Asia. The line that separates them, 817 kilometers long, has been the periodic scene of military clashes and a source of political tension.
Two new treaties, in 1927 and 1937, supplemented the 1907 agreement, but in Bangkok was born from strong resentment against France and the borders imposed, which began to be considered illegal. The result was that groups of Khmer rebels, opposed to the Cambodian government, took refuge in Thailand for years.
The Thai authorities argue that the French map of 1907 is inaccuratewhile Cambodian women use it as a reference to claim territory. The 11th century Preah Vihear temple is the main dispute.
In 1962, the United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) granted Cambodia sovereignty over the temple area. The sentence irritated his neighbor. Actually, Thailand does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICJ and claims that some areas along the border have never been fully demarcated, including the sites of several ancient temples.
Since 2008, skirmishes have occurred intermittently between the armies of the two countries. That year, the dispute over Preah Vihear resurfaced, when Cambodia included the temple on the world heritage list. In 2011, Thai and Cambodian troops clashed in an area near Preah Vihear, displacing thousands of people on both sides. At least 20 people died.
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