Thailand and Cambodia experienced renewed border clashes on Sunday, marking a return of hostilities that began over the summer and coming just one month after both sides had agreed to a formal ceasefire at the ASEAN Summit.
According to media reports from both sides, soldiers exchanged small-arms fire that briefly escalated into heavier weapons, injuring two Thai soldiers and prompting civilian evacuations on both sides. Sunday’s fighting was one of several flare-ups that have occurred since the U.S.-brokered ceasefire took effect on October 26.
Though the clashes ended by Monday morning local time, reinforcements from both armies—including tanks and artillery—were deployed along the 800-kilometer disputed border, a decades-long source of friction between Bangkok and Phnom Penh, centered mostly on the contested Khmer temple sites along the border like Preah Vihear, which was awarded to Cambodia in 1962 by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which Thailand has refused to recognize.
Following four days of heavy fighting in July, including airstrikes that reportedly left more than 30 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands, a temporary ceasefire was reached. That agreement was later formalized on October 26 in Kuala Lumpur at the ASEAN Summit, with U.S. President Donald Trump overseeing the signing of a “joint declaration” by the leaders of both countries.
The “ending” of the conflict has since been cited by Trump as one of eight wars he claims to have resolved. However, some of those conflicts either involved little to no active fighting, had concluded before Trump took office, or in the case of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, involved direct U.S. engagement.
The fragile nature of the ceasefire prompted a phone call on November 16 between Trump and both Southeast Asian leaders, in which Trump reportedly urged them to maintain the Kuala Lumpur agreement. The call came just a day after new clashes left one Cambodian civilian dead and prompted Thailand to announce that it was withdrawing from the deal.