Cambodia, Thai clashes continue after Trump ceasefire claim

Patpicha Tanakasempipat, Bloomberg News on Dec 13, 2025

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Thailand said it will continue military action against Cambodia to eliminate “harm and threats,” stepping up rhetoric even after U.S. President Donald Trump claimed to have brokered a new ceasefire.

Fighting entered its seventh day across the two countries’ disputed border. Thailand said Cambodia has been attacking and firing rockets into civilian areas since Friday night and into Saturday morning, prompting Thailand to respond with an assault on military targets.

Cambodia said Thailand launched new air strikes on Saturday morning, with fighter jets dropping seven bombs in the western province of Pursat after Trump’s phone calls with both sides’ leaders.

The continued clashes contradict the U.S. president’s claim on Friday that Cambodia and Thailand had agreed to “cease all shooting” immediately and recommit to the terms of the so-called Kuala Lumpur Peace Accords that he had them sign in October.

“Thailand will continue to perform military actions until we feel no more harm and threats to our land and people,” Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said in a Facebook post on Saturday morning. “I want to make it clear. Our actions this morning already spoke.”

Anutin said later on Saturday on the sidelines of an event in Bangkok that he and Trump had neither discussed a ceasefire nor come to any such agreement.

“Cambodia still fired heavily at non-military targets, with rockets hitting civilian areas and severely hurting Thai civilians. So does Thailand need to listen to anyone now?” Anutin told reporters. “If we do that, would we have time to protect our sovereignty or our people?”

At a separate briefing, Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow told reporters that Thailand was “disappointed” by Trump’s Truth Social post, which “doesn’t reflect accurate understanding of the situation.”

Cambodia’s leader made no mention on Saturday of the U.S. president’s assertion that there was a new ceasefire agreement. Prime Minister Hun Manet said he had urged the U.S. and Malaysia — which has acted as a mediator — to use satellite images to verify which side had opened fire first in the renewed clash, and that Cambodia was ready to cooperate.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, this year’s chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nation, said his country would convene a special meeting of regional foreign ministers on Dec. 16 to assess the Cambodia-Thailand border situation and support de-escalation measures.

Anwar said he had deployed the Asean Observer Team, led by the Malaysian chief of defense forces, to monitor developments on the ground with the assistance of U.S. satellite monitoring and to present the group’s findings at the foreign ministers’ meeting.

Escalation

The new clashes mark the most serious escalation since five days of intense fighting in July, which was ended by a ceasefire agreement Trump brokered when he threatened to halt trade talks with both countries. The U.S. leader reinforced the truce in October when he oversaw the signing of the Kuala Lumpur peace accord with the Thai and Cambodian prime ministers in Malaysia.

The deal laid out steps for the two countries to start withdrawing troops and heavy weapons, with Thailand set to release 18 Cambodian soldiers in its custody. Last month, Thailand suspended terms of the agreement after four soldiers were injured in a landmine blast that the army said was newly laid by Cambodia, an allegation Phnom Penh rejected.

Cambodian Minister of Information Neth Pheaktra said Thailand had provided “no verifiable evidence” linking any explosive device to Cambodian forces.

“We view these claims as a politically motivated attempt to justify Thailand’s suspension of the ceasefire and its ongoing incursions into Cambodian territory,” he said in an interview on Friday. Cambodia welcomes the US’ use of its “diplomatic weight to ensure Thailand returns to the Kuala Lumpur Peace Agreement it signed and ceases all violations along the border.”

Thailand and Cambodia share an 800-kilometer (500-mile) border. The conflict has left more than two dozen dead, including 15 Thai soldiers and 11 Cambodian civilians, since it restarted on Sunday, according to the respective governments. More than half a million people have been displaced.

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(With assistance from Philip J. Heijmans.)