SURIN, Thailand — Fighting raged Saturday morning along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, after President Trump declared that he had won agreement from both countries for a new ceasefire.
Thai officials said they did not agree to a ceasefire. Cambodia has not commented directly on Trump’s claim, but its Defense Ministry said Thai jets carried out airstrikes Saturday morning.
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Saturday that some of Trump’s remarks didn’t “reflect an accurate understanding of the situation.”
He said the U.S. president’s characterization of a land mine explosion that wounded Thai soldiers as a “roadside accident” was inaccurate, and did not reflect Thailand’s position that it was a deliberate act of aggression.
Sihasak said the Thai people were hurt over Trump’s willingness to credit what may be “information from sources that deliberately distorted the facts” instead of believing Thailand, “because we consider ourselves — we are proud, in fact — to be the oldest treaty ally of the United States in the region.”
The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish Dec. 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire promoted by Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July over long-standing territorial disputes.
The July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.
More deaths reported, half a million displaced
More than two dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in this past week’s fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced.
The Thai military said 15 of its troops died during the fighting, and estimated earlier in the week that there have been 165 fatalities among Cambodian soldiers. Cambodia has not announced military casualties, but has said at least 11 civilians have been killed and more than six dozen wounded.
Trump, after speaking to Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, announced Friday an agreement to restart the ceasefire.
“They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
Trump’s claim came after midnight in Bangkok. Anutin, after his call with Trump, said that he had explained Thailand’s reasons for fighting and that peace would depend on Cambodia ceasing its attacks first.
The Thai Foreign Ministry later explicitly disputed Trump’s claim that a ceasefire had been reached. The prime minister’s busy day Friday included dissolving Parliament, so new elections could be held early next year.
Hun Manet, in comments posted early Saturday morning, also made no mention of a ceasefire.
Phone talks with Trump
The Cambodian leader said he held phone conversations on Friday night with Trump, and a night earlier with Ibrahim, Malaysia’s prime minister, and thanked both “for their continuous efforts to achieve a long-lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand.”
“Cambodia is ready to cooperate in any way that is needed,” Hun Manet wrote.
Anwar later posted on social media that he was urging the two sides to implement a ceasefire on Saturday night. Hun Manet, also posting online, endorsed the initiative, which included having Malaysia and the United States help monitor it. But Anutin denied that his country was even in negotiations on the proposal.
Thailand has been carrying out airstrikes on what it says are military targets, while Cambodia has been firing thousands of medium-range BM-21 rockets that have caused havoc but relatively few casualties.
BM-21 rocket launchers can fire up to 40 rockets at a time with a range of 19 to 25 miles. These rockets cannot be precisely targeted and have landed largely in areas from where most people have already been evacuated.
But the Thai army announced Saturday that BM-21 rockets had hit a civilian area in Sisaket province, seriously injuring two civilians who had heard warning sirens and had been running toward a bunker for safety.
Thailand’s navy was also reported by both sides’ militaries to have joined the fighting on Saturday morning, with a warship in the Gulf of Thailand shelling Cambodia’s southwestern province of Koh Kong. Each side said the other opened fire first.
Saksornchai and Peck write for the Associated Press and reported from Surin and Bangkok, respectively. AP writers Sopheng Cheang in Serei Saophoan, Cambodia, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
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