Thailand launches airstrikes on Cambodian military targets as deadly border dispute escalates

Our coverage has ended for the day. Get up to speed on the latest updates in the Thailand-Cambodia border clashes here or by reading through the updates below.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts has expressed its “strongest condemnation of the aggression” carried out by Thailand’s military, saying that the targeting of Preah Vihear temple — a UNESCO World Heritage Site — “may constitute war crimes.”

In a statement Thursday, the ministry called the strikes a “grave and unacceptable violation of international law” and a “blatant disregard” for legal obligations to protect cultural heritage.

The strikes caused “significant damage” to both the “surrounding area and the structures” of the temple, it said. The temple, it added, is a “sacred cultural site and historical legacy of the Cambodian people.”

The ministry claimed Thailand’s “aggressive actions” are both a “cultural disaster and a moral tragedy,” warning of “far-reaching consequences for global heritage and the national identity of the Cambodian people.”

The ministry demanded the stop to military activity near the temple.

Cambodia’s defense ministry said earlier Thursday that a Thai F-16 fighter jet had dropped two bombs on a road near the 11th-century temple as clashes erupted at several flashpoints along the two countries’ disputed border.

Japan has expressed “deep concern” over the ongoing military clashes between Cambodia and Thailand, urging both sides to show “maximum restraint” and resolve tensions through dialogue.

“Japan has been working to encourage both countries to de-escalate the situation,” Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said in a statement on Thursday. “A sound relationship between Cambodia and Thailand is extremely important for peace and stability in the region.”

He added that he “strongly hopes” that the tension between the two countries “will be eased peacefully through dialogue.”

Royal Thai Army soldiers ride on an armored vehicle in Chachoengsao province, Thailand on Thursday.

If you’re just joining us, Thailand has launched airstrikes against what it says were Cambodian military targets along the two countries’ long-disputed border. It has also accused Cambodia of firing rockets into Thai civilian areas, resulting in at least one death.

For its part, Cambodia has said it would “respond decisively” to the strikes, accusing Thai forces of violating arrangements by ascending to the Ta Muan Thom Temple and deploying barbed wire at the base of the temple. It also said Thai forces launched a drone.

Here’s how this all unfolded:

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet speaks during a press conference in Tokyo on May 30.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Thursday urged his country’s citizens living in Thailand to “maintain their morality and dignity” and to return home if they are “facing pressure from discrimination.”

He added: “For Cambodian citizens who are living, working, or studying in Thailand and may be facing pressure from discrimination and wish to return to Cambodia, please come back to our country.”

Thailand’s health ministry said Thursday that 12 people, including 11 civilians and one Thai soldier, have been killed in clashes with Cambodian troops on the disputed border.

A further 31 people, including 24 civilians and seven soldiers, have been injured, the ministry said.

Cambodian authorities have not yet reported any fatalities on their side.

A Cambodian solider guards the grounds of the Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia in 2011.

Thailand and Cambodia have a long history of periodic military flare-ups and nationalist disputes.

French officials, during their colonial rule in Cambodia, drew a map of the border in 1907 that Thailand contested — saying France did not fully demarcate certain areas, including the sites of several temples.

Here’s a look at the events leading to today’s conflict:

2011: Thai and Cambodian troops clashed in an area surrounding the Preah Vihear temple, displacing thousands of people on both sides and killing at least 20 people.

May 28: Tensions resurfaced when a Cambodian soldier was killed during a brief clash between Thai and Cambodian troops in the contested border area of the Emerald Triangle, where Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet. Thai and Cambodian forces said they were acting in self-defense and blamed the other for the skirmish.

July 1: Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended from duty and now faces possible dismissal after a leaked phone call with Cambodia’s former leader in which she appeared to criticize her own army’s handling of the conflict.

July 16: A landmine explosion in a contested area wounded three Thai soldiers when one of them stepped on it and lost a foot.

July 23: On Wednesday, a landmine blast in a contested area wounded five Thai soldiers, including one who lost a leg. In response, Thailand recalled its ambassador to Cambodia and closed all border crossings with its neighbor.

July 24: Cambodia, in turn, announced that it was downgrading diplomatic relations with Thailand to the lowest level and recalling all embassy staff from Bangkok.

Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai speaks to media after a cabinet meeting in Bangkok, Thailand on July 3.

No negotiation with Cambodia can take place until fighting along the border ends, Thailand’s caretaker Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said.

The acting premier said there had been no declaration of war and that conflict was not spreading into more provinces, according to Reuters.

He added that Cambodia had fired heavy weapons into Thailand without clear targets, leading to civilian deaths.

Cambodia previously said a Thai F-16 fighter jet dropped two bombs on a road. There was no immediate information on casualties on the Cambodian side.

Thailand’s government called for “international condemnation” of Cambodia in a statement posted on its official Facebook page.

Government spokesperson Jirayu Houngsub accused Cambodia of “being a war-monger that disregards human rights by continuously using heavy weapons against civilian targets.”

The post claimed Cambodian forces fired heavy weapons into civilian areas — including a hospital and homes in Surin province — resulting in several casualties.

Cambodian Senate President Hun Sen delivers a speech during his visit to Cambodian armed forces stationed along the border with Thailand in Oddar Meanchey province on June 26.

Cambodia’s powerful former leader Hun Sen said the country had “no choice but to fight back” against Thailand, as he urged the public to remain calm and avoid panic buying.

In a later post, Hun Sen said he was participating in the military command via video link, following reports that he had left Cambodia for China.

“I have been sitting here since the Thai 2nd Region Commander said he would close the entrance to Ta Moan Thom Temple,” Hun Sen said, specifically blaming the Thai commander for the escalation.

He also urged Cambodians to carry out normal work “except the border areas of Oddar Meanchey and Preah Vihear provinces, which have been shelled by the Thai invasion army.”

Thailand and Cambodia have provided accounts of how the conflict escalated.

Here’s a timeline based on both accounts:

Residents in Thailand’s Surin province ran for cover as clashes erupted at the border with Cambodia, according to local news footage.

A crowd, mostly women and at least one child, took shelter under a concrete tunnel structure, footage from Thai Public Broadcasting Service showed, while others raced down a road across a rural neighborhood.

Sounds of what appeared to be impacts and gunfire exchanges could also be heard.

Royal Thai Army soldiers ride armored vehicles on a road in Chachoengsao province, Thailand on Thursday.

As tensions flare between Thailand and Cambodia, the US and China have advised their citizens to be vigilant near the border.

The US embassy in Thailand warned Americans in or near the area to heed advice from Thai authorities who began evacuating conflict zones on Thursday.

Thailand’s embassy in Phnom Penh said its people should leave Cambodia “as soon as possible” unless they had urgent reasons to remain.

And China’s embassy urged its citizens in Cambodia to avoid areas near the border and “remain vigilant.”

China’s foreign ministry said at a press conference on Thursday it is “deeply concerned” about escalating tensions between its neighbors and stressed the importance of “maintaining friendly relations” with “long-term interests on both sides.”

Foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters China will “continue to play a constructive role in promoting peace and dialogue to help ease tensions.”

People who fled clashes take shelter in Surin province, Thailand on Thursday.

Residents on the Thai and Cambodian sides of their shared border say people are fleeing their homes amid the deadly clashes.

Chhan Rorn Yon, a 45-year-old farmer in Cambodia, told CNN he had heard explosions since 9 a.m. local time.

“I am so concerned that the bomb drop and the bullet will kill us,” he said from Sa Em village in Preah Vihear province, 6 miles (10 kilometers) north of the conflict area where the shooting first erupted.

Chhan Rorn Yon said his neighbors sought refuge in a pagoda in a nearby town, but he will remain in the village. “I am worried about our safety but I can’t leave the house,” he said.

Noun Hean, 40, a tuk tuk driver also near the Preah Vihear temple, said shooting is ongoing.

In Thailand’s Surin province, Komsan Jaipeng told CNN that when the clashes began, he saw many schoolchildren rushing to escape.

Komsan was opening up his motorcycle shop when he first heard a boom. His boss told him and the other staff to evacuate.

Komsan said he had prepared a bag of items for more than a month now, including spare clothes and phone chargers.

Thailand closed its border with Cambodia after conflict between the neighboring countries intensified, according to Thai officials.

“We have escalated the measures to level 4, which involves the complete closure of all border checkpoints along the Thai Cambodian border,” said Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, a spokesperson for Ad Hoc Centre for Thailand-Cambodia Border Situation.

Surasant said Thailand felt “obligated and compelled” to close the border because the situation had escalated.

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Manet speaks during the 32nd Founding Anniversary of the Royal Gendarmerie at the Royal Gendarmerie Training Centre in Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia, on July 14.

Cambodia’s Prime Minister has called on the United Nations Security Council to convene an “urgent meeting” to “stop Thailand’s aggression,” after fighting intensified between the neighbors.

Prime Minister Hun Manet said Thai armed forces launched “unprovoked, premeditated and deliberate attacks on Cambodian positions along the border areas,” accusing it of violating international law in a letter to Security Council President Asim Iftikhar Ahmad.

Thailand has accused Cambodia of violating both its sovereignty and international law by laying landmines within Thai territory on the disputed border, and by firing rockets into civilian areas this morning.

Thailand was “prepared to intensify our self-defense measures if Cambodia persists in its armed attack and violations,” its statement said

At least 11 civilians have been killed in Cambodia’s attacks in Thailand, the Thai Health Ministry said.

Cambodia has not yet reported any fatalities on its side.

The conflict between Thailand and Cambodia is “likely to get worse before it gets better,” an analyst said, as relations between the Southeast Asian countries collapse to their lowest level in years.

The next few days could see more “confrontation, clashes, escalation,” Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Thailand’s Chulalongkorn University, told CNN. “Each side has so much pent-up tension.”

Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended this month after the leak of a phone call she had with Cambodia’s powerful former leader Hun Sen, in which she appeared to criticize her army’s actions in their long-standing border dispute.

Some background: Hun Sen, who ruled Cambodia with an iron fist for almost 40 years, stepped down in 2023 and handed power to his son Hun Manet. But he remains a hugely influential figure in Cambodian politics: He serves as senate president and was a friend and ally of Paetongtarn’s father, the former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

“(Thailand’s) government is very weak and there’s no unity,” said Pongsudhirak, adding Cambodia is “exploiting divisions in Thailand.”

The border dispute will make the ASEAN regional grouping “even more off balance,” Pongsudhirak said. The grouping, which includes Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, among other Southeast Asian countries, has faced challenges and setbacks in recent years, including internal conflicts, territorial disputes, and geopolitical tensions.

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Video shows 7/11 damaged in Thailand-Cambodia clashes

00:37 • Source: CNN

Video shows 7/11 damaged in Thailand-Cambodia clashes

00:37

Six civilians were killed and 10 other people wounded when a Cambodian rocket hit a busy gas station in a Thai village, according to Thailand’s army.

The rocket struck a gas station in the Sisaket province, an army spokesperson said in a statement on Thursday.

Social media videos geolocated by CNN showed several wounded people outside a heavily damaged 7/11 store, with smoke in the background. The store’s entrance was destroyed and its windows were shattered, according to the videos. Several people could be seen running to help a wounded person who was lying in a pick-up truck.

At least nine people have been killed and over a dozen were wounded in Thailand in Cambodian attacks, including an 8-year-old boy, according to the Thai army. Two of the other deaths were in Surin province, while one was in Ubon Ratchathani province.

There was no immediate information about casualties in Cambodia.

Thai flags wave in front of the Cambodian Embassy during a demonstration over tensions at the Thai-Cambodian border, in Bangkok on Sunday.

Thailand and Cambodia have had a complicated relationship of both cooperation and rivalry in recent decades.

They share a 508-mile (817-kilometer) land border — largely mapped by the French when they controlled Cambodia as a colony — that has periodically seen military clashes and been the source of political tensions.

Cambodia has previously sought a ruling from the UN’s International Court of Justice over disputed areas, including the site of the most recent clash.

But Thailand does not recognize the ICJ’s jurisdiction and claims that some areas along the border were never fully demarcated, including the sites of several ancient temples.

In 2011, Thai and Cambodian troops clashed in a nearby area surrounding the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO world heritage site, displacing thousands of people on both sides and killing at least 20 people.