A bitter border conflict in Southeast Asia has intensified, defying claims by US President Donald Trump that a peace deal had been reached, with fresh airstrikes reported and a UNESCO World Heritage site caught in the crossfire.
Deadly fighting has kept going along the disputed border between Thailand and Cambodia this weekend, directly contradicting a statement by US President Donald Trump that he’d successfully brokered a ceasefire. Cambodia accused Thai forces of launching fresh airstrikes on Saturday (December 13), just hours after Trump announced both countries had agreed to stop fighting.
On Friday, Trump posted on Truth Social that he’d had “very good” conversations with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet. He claimed they’d agreed to “cease all shooting” immediately. But what’s actually happening on the ground looks completely different.
Cambodia’s defense ministry reported that two Thai F-16 fighter jets dropped seven bombs Saturday morning, hitting areas deep inside Cambodian territory. Thai officials, meanwhile, are accusing Cambodia of bringing in heavy weapons and breaking previous agreements. The clashes, which started up again earlier this week, have already killed at least 23 people and displaced roughly 700,000 civilians on both sides of the border.
“Thai military aircraft have not stopped bombing yet,” the Cambodian defense ministry said on social media, directly contradicting the ceasefire narrative.
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters he’d explained to Trump that Thailand was just “retaliating,” not acting as the aggressor. “I told him… they must tell the world that Cambodia will cease fire, withdraw its troops, and remove all landmines it has planted. They must show us first,” he said.
The conflict is centered on a long-running dispute over the border near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Tensions flared up in July 2025 and have gotten way worse this month. The fighting has now damaged conservation facilities at the temple complex, raising concerns from India and UNESCO, both urging the countries to protect their shared cultural heritage.
This renewed violence comes despite a peace deal signed in October in Kuala Lumpur, which the US also helped broker. The fact that agreement fell apart and this latest ceasefire announcement failed shows just how fragile the situation is and how limited outside diplomatic pressure can be when it comes to this deeply rooted territorial fight.
With hundreds of thousands of civilian’s displaced and military rhetoric getting harder on both sides, an immediate de-escalation seems unlikely. The international community, including ASEAN and the UN, is facing mounting pressure to step in more directly as the humanitarian crisis gets worse and heritage sites remain under threat.
Also Read / Thailand launches airstrikes on Cambodia as soldier killed in border clash.
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