Escalation on Thai-Cambodian border sparks regional alarm and civilian casualties

Department of Research, Studies and International News 25/07/2025

Tensions along the Thailand–Cambodia border erupted into deadly violence this week, following years of unresolved territorial disputes and rising nationalist rhetoric on both sides. In what observers are calling one of the most dangerous flare-ups in recent years, airstrikes, artillery exchanges, and accusations of war crimes have left at least 12 people dead and more than 30 injured, most of them civilians.

The fighting erupted in the early hours of Thursday morning near the contested Ta Moan Thom temple, situated in Cambodia’s northwestern Oddar Meanchey province. What began as a localized skirmish soon escalated into broader military engagement, spreading to six separate zones along the border. Both

Thailand and Cambodia accuse each other of firing the first shot, but the scale and intensity of the retaliation suggest premeditated military preparedness, particularly on the Thai side, which mobilized F-16 fighter jets and deployed them to bomb Cambodian military targets. Thailand’s interim Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai confirmed the clashes but insisted that no formal declaration of war had been made. He emphasized that negotiations would not commence until the fighting ceased.

However, his statements did little to calm the situation, as shelling continued and the Thai foreign ministry accused Cambodia of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital, a move that Thai Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin labeled a war crime.