Politics Fierce fighting on the border between Cambodia and Thailand
Only around six weeks after the signing of a ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia, the violence on the shared border has escalated completely.
09.12.2025, 15:41
SDA
Fierce fighting raged in many places along the 800-kilometer border between the Southeast Asian countries on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of inhabitants of the border area on both sides had to flee to shelters or safer parts of the country.
Both countries fought against each other with soldiers on the ground and sometimes using heavy artillery. According to local media, the Thai air force flew further attacks on suspected Cambodian army positions. The aim is to decimate the military of the neighboring state in the long term, the newspaper "Bangkok Post" quoted the military's chief of staff, Chaiyaphreuk Duangpraphat. This is intended to ensure the security of future generations in Thailand.
Cambodia's Senate President and former head of government, Hun Sen, explained that restraint had initially been exercised in order to respect the ceasefire agreed on October 26. However, they are now fighting to defend themselves, with "trenches and weapons of all kinds".
Further escalation conceivable
The current rhetoric from Bangkok suggests a further escalation of the situation, said Felix Heiduk, Head of the Asia Research Group at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), to the German Press Agency (dpa). However, the battle is an unequal one: "Cambodia's army is only a third of the size of Thailand's army, the military budget is far smaller and the country has no air force at all," said the expert from the Berlin-based foundation.
Whether Thailand will use its military superiority to annex territories, for example, is pure speculation. There have been no public statements on this so far.
In any case, the main victims of the conflict are the civilian population on both sides. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced from their villages in the border region. Cross-border trade and labor migration from Cambodia to Thailand, which is important for both countries, have also been disrupted, according to Heiduk. "From an economic perspective, this conflict makes no sense whatsoever for either country."
Politically, however, the escalation offers an opportunity for Thailand's interim Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. According to Heiduk, he is likely to call new elections in December for the beginning of 2026: "In the polls, he, who comes from the conservative, pro-military camp, is lagging behind left-wing, progressive forces. He could well use the border conflict for his own domestic political image as a defender of Thai sovereignty."
Injured and dead on both sides
Cambodia and Thailand have been accusing each other since Sunday of first violating a recent ceasefire in the border area. According to the Ministry of Defense, at least seven civilians have been killed and at least 20 injured in Cambodia since Monday. Thai media reported the deaths of four soldiers, citing the military.
The Thai news portal "Khaosod" reported on platform X, citing the military, of heavy Cambodian attacks on Thai territory, including with mortars and artillery. According to the Bangkok Post, the Thai navy was also deployed to push Cambodian soldiers out of the border area they occupied in Trat province.
Neither the information from Phnom Penh nor that from Bangkok could initially be independently verified.
Roots of the conflict lie in colonial times
Following heavy fighting in July, the neighboring countries signed a declaration for a path towards peace at the Asean summit in Malaysia at the end of October in the presence of US President Donald Trump. However, the agreed ceasefire was suspended in November following a new incident on the border. That agreement was "very thin" in terms of content and accompanied by mutual mistrust, said Heiduk.
The economic pressure alone from the threat of higher tariffs from Trump and his staging as a peacemaker were not enough to initiate a genuine peace process.
Problematic border demarcation in the colonial era
The roots of the conflict lie in the colonial era at the beginning of the 20th century, when France defined the border, but there were discrepancies in the published maps. Thailand - the then Kingdom of Siam - felt disadvantaged as some important temples from the Khmer Empire were located on the French Indochina side, explained expert Heiduk.
The Hindu temple Prasat Preah Vihear in particular has become the center of the dispute. Both countries claim the surrounding area of the complex on the border, which has been a Unesco World Heritage Site since 2008. There have been repeated skirmishes between the armed forces of the two countries in the past, making the region unsafe - also for the many pilgrims who want to visit the site dedicated to the god Shiva.
