On the Cambodian side of the border with Thailand during the last week of July and first few days of August, a recent cease-fire has already begun to show serious signs of strain. The Cambodian army continues to ferry ammo, weapons, and men to the border. Soldiers on both sides were heavily armed and seemed to be prepared for a longer-lasting conflict. U.S. military officials and a small Chinese delegation were present, but both refused interviews.
Recent fighting on the border has killed at least 43 people and displaced around 330,000 over, in theory, a border conflict that has been running since Cambodia won independence from France. Yet up until the recent outbreak that began in late May and ended with a cease-fire on July 28, the two countries were still able to manage bilateral military cooperation after the last of the Khmer Rouge insurgency in Cambodia was defeated in 1998.
Both countries claim low fatalities so far, but nobody knows the true death toll—and the suffering is evident.
Cambodian Soth Sim’s family’s business was destroyed by Thai airstrikes, which have continued through the start of August. Sim’s son operated their family-owned gasoline station, located about a kilometer from a Cambodia military site in the province of Oddar Meanchey.
Members of the family said that they fled after they saw a drone conducting reconnaissance before the Thai military carried out a targeted airstrike. On the ground, the damage was clear.
Alone, 62-year-old Soth Sim walked through the torched site. “This was my son’s house, completely destroyed by the bombing,” he said. The petrol station was destroyed and the town evacuated, with the site showing evidence of an incendiary bomb. No other adjacent structures were damaged.
The conflict is centered around the Preah Vihear temple, a disputed site located at the top of a mountain that spans the border. As with so many clashes, the dispute has colonial roots, going back to a 1907 map from the era of French colonial rule. After Cambodia attained independence in 1953, the regional dispute was brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which intervened in 1962. The ICJ ruled in Cambodia’s favor, awarding the Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia.
There was never any resolution on the ground, but for decades, both Cambodia and Thailand had a joint deployment of two soldiers each at disputed temples, which are central to this territorial dispute, as part of a security cooperation agreement. The joint deployment didn’t prevent clashes, such as a deadly exchange of fire in 2009, but it at least prevented them from accelerating—until now.
It’s tempting to attribute the renewed violent conflict to the struggle between great powers. Both the United States and China are concerned and dependent on the region’s air landing sites and ports for maritime military usage. Cambodia is a long-standing friend of Beijing, while Thailand has been increasingly leaning toward China but also balancing its security alliance with the United States. Malaysia, as the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), is too walking a geopolitical tightrope and trying to ensure equilibrium.
But individual ASEAN members do not appear to be gravitating toward either the United States or China; they are asserting their own independence and power against their neighbors. They are taking the opportunity presented by geopolitical chaos and increasingly domestically focused politics in Washington and Beijing to reestablish national interests and positions both regionally and internationally. This ties in to these countries’ own domestic political needs, such as the recent scandal in Thailand over the powerful Shinawatra family’s links to Cambodian dictator Hun Sen.
The spread of global arms across Southeast Asia is long-running but has increased in recent years and as evidenced on the ground, is increasingly being utilized at a military operational level over the past few weeks. Both Cambodia and Thailand deployed high-end weaponry provided by various countries that include China, Russia, Sweden, and the United States, based on the latest available arms sales information going back to 2023.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) documented that Cambodia deployed and used multiple Chinese PHL-81 mounted rocket launchers. Cambodia also utilized Russian BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles—a heavily armored machine somewhere between an armored personnel carrier and a tank. And Thailand has accused Cambodia of deploying a Chinese-made PHL-03 multiple rocket-launcher system along the border over the past week.
Thailand deployed F-16 fighter jets, drones, Stryker infantry carriers, and Swedish-made Gripens aircraft, according to Thai Ministry of Defense statements and SIPRI’s arms trade database.
That scale of force translates to mass dislocation on the ground. The camps are crowded, and women and children are bearing the brunt of this war, but they are persevering and resilient. No agency is running the camps. It’s only local officials and community members taking responsibility to care for each other. Many are nurses, doctors, and teachers who fled the fighting alongside civilians.
Along the Cambodian side of the border, there was no presence of any international organizations. Groups that are usually key to supporting internally displaced people, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, and World Food Program, were not visibly present. Cambodians have been left to fend for themselves.
Soeung Num, her husband, and two children left their home in Ou Smach, located just north of the city of Samraong, near a conflict zone on the border in northeast Cambodia. She traveled by tractor for three hours to an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the fighting, bringing just clothing and 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of rice.
The 58-year-old said, “I am still scared of the bullets … I don’t believe Thailand will stop this war. Thailand can change quickly. I desperately want to go home. If we go back and Thailand starts firing, it will be even more difficult for us.”
Chheun Sokonvary—a 43-year-old math teacher at a high school, currently staying in an IDP camp—echoed fears of further war. “I want the International Court of Justice to help Cambodia with land demarcation according to maps. I want the world to help Cambodia maintain the cease-fire.”
At least among the refugees, there seems to be little appetite for revenge or further conflict. Yet it is unclear how long the cease-fire will hold.
Back at the gas station, Soth Sim said, “If there is peace, my son will return. But he can’t run his business anymore. I appeal for the firing to stop. I urge the international community to help find a solution for Cambodia and to end this armed clash with Thailand. I think if foreign countries help intervene, I have a stronger belief that a cease-fire will hold than bilateral negotiations alone.”
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