Thailand strikes Cambodia as Donald Trump-backed ceasefire collapses

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Thailand has launched air strikes on Cambodia after border clashes that killed one Thai soldier, marking the collapse of a Donald Trump-brokered peace deal between the south-east Asian neighbours.

The Thai army said on Monday it had retaliated after Cambodian troops opened fire at the border of Ubon Ratchathani province. One Thai soldier was killed and four were wounded, the army said. 

The Royal Thai Air Force said Cambodian actions “posed a direct threat to Thailand’s national security, the safety of border-area residents and Thai personnel operating in the region”. The air force said it targeted only military installations.

The Thai army said there are clashes in five areas.

Cambodia’s defence ministry accused its neighbour’s forces of initiating what it called “brutal and inhumane” attacks on its troops. 

Thailand has engaged “in numerous provocative actions for many days . . . with the objective of instigating confrontations”, the ministry said in a statement. Cambodia has not retaliated and continues to monitor the situation, it said.

In a statement, Cambodia’s longtime former leader Hun Sen referred to Thai forces as “aggressors”, and called on Cambodian troops to “be patient”.

“The red line for responding has already been set,” he said.

Monday’s clashes signalled the most serious fighting between Thailand and Cambodia since July, when a five-day conflict killed at least 48 people and displaced an estimated 30,000.

The renewed hostilities marked the collapse of a truce brokered by Trump to end the July fighting, the deadliest confrontation between the neighbours in a decade over a border dispute that has dragged on for over a century.

The two countries had agreed to the ceasefire after the US president threatened to halt negotiations on US tariffs on their exports, on which both economies rely. In October, they signed a peace accord in Trump’s presence in Kuala Lumpur, at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.  

However, Thailand unilaterally called off the deal in November, as it accused Cambodia of laying new landmines that injured several Thai soldiers along a disputed border. Cambodia had rejected Bangkok’s allegations, saying it was committed to the peace deal. 

The two countries have sporadically clashed in the past over competing territorial claims to ancient temples and surrounding border territory.