Cambodia's PM Hun Manet appeals to UN Security Council to intervene in conflict with Thailand

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and his predecessor and father, Hun Sen, have taken to social media  on Jul. 24 to give their take on the outbreak of violence on the Thailand-Cambodia border.

Tensions, already high from a previous border incident in May 2025, ramped up on Jul. 23 when three Thai soldiers were injured by Cambodian landmines, which Cambodia said were pre-existing, but Thailand claimed were newly laid.

On Jul. 24, tensions escalated as both sides exchanged fire, and the Royal Thai Air Force conducted air strikes on Cambodian targets after Cambodia conducted an artillery strike on Thai targets.

Unprovoked, premeditated, and deliberate attacks

On Jul. 24, Hun Manet wrote to the President of the United Nations Security Council, to bring “urgent attention” to the UNSC about what he called “armed aggression against Cambodia by Thai military forces” at the Thai-Cambodian border.

He accused Thailand’s armed forces of launching “unprovoked, premeditated, and deliberate attacks”, including at three temple sites, Tamone Thom Temple, Ta Krabey Temple, and Mom Bei.

Hun Manet said that Cambodia “condemns in the strongest terms” Thailand’s “unprovoked and premeditated” military aggression, and that the Thai attack “flagrantly violated" principles of non-aggression, which were fundamental to the United Nations and Asean Charters.

No option

Because of this, Hun Manet claimed that Cambodian troops had no option but to respond in self-defence.

He also claimed that the current border hostility stemmed from Thailand's “insistence on claiming sovereignty over the border areas” based on a supposedly “unilaterally drawn map”.

While he acknowledged that the landmine explosion that was said to have injured three Thai military personnel on Jul. 23, he repeated Cambodia’s assertion that the Thai troops had “deviated” from previously agreed patrol routes, and “created” new paths through “officially documented mine fields”.

Hun Manet called on the UNSC to convene an “urgent meeting” to “stop Thailand’s aggression”.

No hoarding

Hun Manet’s father, and the long-serving former PM of Cambodia and current President of the Cambodian Senate, Hun Sen, also took to Facebook to express his thoughts.

He did not mince his words, saying that Thai soldiers had “started attacking the Cambodian army”, and that the Cambodian army had “no choice but to retaliate and fight back”.

He urged his fellow Cambodians not to panic, and urged them not to hoard essential supplies like rice or price-gouge.

He called on them to trust the Cambodian government and armed forces, remain calm, and continue their daily work as usual.

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Top image via Hun Manet/Facebook & Samdech Hun Sen of Cambodia/Facebook