Air strikes & fighting break out at Thai-Cambodian border, threatening Trump's peace deal

Fighting has resumed at the Thai-Cambodian border after nearly a month, as Thailand confirms that it has conducted air strikes against Cambodian targets on Dec. 8.

Air strikes and renewed clashes

On Dec. 8, Thai military sources posted on social media that it had launched air strikes against Cambodian targets along the disputed Thai-Cambodian border.

The Thai 2nd Army Operations Centre reported at 7.38 am on Dec. 8 that Cambodian troops had opened fire on Thai troops and that they had returned fire.

Al Jazeera reports that a Thai Army spokesperson had said that the air strikes were conducted in response to deadly clashes in the Chong Bok area of the Nam Yuen District in the Ubon Ratchathani province.

The spokesperson said that at least one Thai soldier had been killed in the initial clashes, with four other soldiers wounded.

He also said that the Thai army was supporting the evacuation of civilians from the border areas, and that 70 per cent of local Thai civilians had been successfully evacuated as of 9 am, and that 35,623 people had been registered at temporary shelters.

Cambodia’s defence ministry likewise confirmed the outbreak of fighting, claiming that Thai military forces had attacked Cambodian troops, and that Cambodian troops had not retaliated.

Deal or no deal

The fighting is a continuation of the five days of fighting that took place in July 2025, over a long-running border dispute centring on the ownership of Temples in the border area.

The initial fighting ended after United States President Donald Trump, with the assistance of then Asean chair Anwar Ibrahim, intervened.

The ceasefire had held long enough for the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia to sign an expanded peace agreement in October on the sidelines of the 47th Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur, with Trump in attendance.

But the peace in the region has always been tenuous, with both sides accusing each other of violations, such as Thailand claiming that Cambodia was seeding the area with fresh landmines.

The peace deal brokered in July had seen the withdrawal of heavy military equipment, such as tanks and artillery, from the area.

But Thai sources indicate that such equipment has returned to the area and has been used in the Dec. 8 fighting.

Top image via @WW3_Monitor/X & Anwar Ibrahim/Facebook