00:00Thailand and Cambodia are engaged in a new confrontation. Thailand's army said three
00:14civilians were wounded in a Cambodian rocket strike on 24th of July as the militaries of
00:19the two countries clashed again in an escalating row over a disputed border. Fresh fighting erupted
00:25on the morning of 22nd of July near two temples on the border between the Thai province of Surin
00:31and Cambodia's Uda Mianche. Defense Ministry spokeswoman Mali Suchyata said in a statement,
00:37the Thai military violated the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Cambodia by launching
00:42an armed assault on Cambodian forces stationed to defend the nation's sovereign territory.
00:48In response, the Cambodian armed forces exercised their legitimate right to self-defense
00:54in full accordance with international law to repel the Thai incursion and protect Cambodia's
01:00sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Thai army blamed Cambodian soldiers for firing first
01:06and later accused them of a targeted attack on civilians, saying two BM-21 rockets had hit a
01:14community in Surin's Kapchoing district, wounding three people. According to the Thai army, the clashes
01:20began around 7.35 am when a unit guarding Tamuin temple heard a Cambodian drone overhead. As per the
01:28army, later, six armed Cambodian soldiers, including one carrying a rocket-propelled grenade, approached a
01:35barbed-wired fence in front of the Thai post. Thai soldiers shouted to warn them, the army said,
01:40but around 8.20 am, Cambodian forces opened fire toward the eastern side of the temple,
01:46about 200 meters from the Thai base. Thailand's acting Prime Minister Poon Tam Vin Chachai said,
01:52the situation requires careful handling and we must act in accordance with international law.
01:57We will do our best to protect our sovereignty.
02:02Thailand's embassy in Phnom Penh urged its nationals to leave Cambodia as soon as possible,
02:07unless they had urgent reasons to remain. The violence came hours after Thailand expelled the
02:13Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own envoy in protest after five members of a Thai military
02:19patrol were wounded by a landmine. Thailand's Prime Minister said that an investigation by the
02:24Thai military found evidence that Cambodia had laid new landmines in the disputed border area,
02:31a claim denied by Phnom Penh. On 22 July, Cambodia announced it was downgrading Thais to the lowest level,
02:39pulling out all but one of its diplomats and expelling their Thai equivalents from Phnom Penh.
02:45Recent weeks have seen a series of tit-for-tat swipes by both sides, with Thailand restricting border
02:51crossings and Cambodia halting certain imports. My army said in a statement that one soldier lost his
02:57leg in the landmine blast and others suffered ear injuries and chest pain. Cambodia's Defence Minister
03:05earlier categorically rejected the unfounded accusations made by Thailand. The Ministry said
03:10that the border areas still contained many landmines left over from past wars which have not been fully
03:17cleared. The neighbours are locked in a bitter spat over an area known as the Emerald Triangle, with
03:24several poorly demarketed sections of their 817-kilometre-long border, most recently flaring up near the
03:31historic Thamon Tham Temple region, home to several ancient temples as well as along other contested
03:38areas. The squabble has dragged on for decades, flaring into bloody military clashes more than 15
03:44years ago and again in May 2025, when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a firefight. The Cambodia-Thailand
03:52border dispute began due to colonial-era treaties, primarily created when Cambodia was under French colonial
03:59rule. France mapped the border for Cambodia and Thailand and the resulting maps placed culturally
04:05significant sites like the Pravia Temple on the Cambodian side. However, Thailand, that is the
04:11earlier Siamese representatives, never formally approved these maps nor strongly objected. After
04:17Cambodia became independent from France in 1953, the region near Pravia Temple saw recurring disputes. In 1954,
04:26Thai troops occupied the temple after the French withdrawal. Cambodia then brought the issue to
04:32the International Court of Justice in 1959, citing the 1907 French-drawn maps. In 1962, the ICJ ruled in
04:41Cambodia's favour, deciding that the temple was indeed situated in Cambodian territory. However,
04:48the court did not definitively settle the surrounding 4.6 square-kilometre area around the temple,
04:55which remains contested to this day. Both countries have fuelled border claims with strong
05:02nationalistic rhetoric. Domestic political circumstances, especially political turmoil in
05:07Thailand, have also reignited disputes at various points, such as when Cambodia sought UNESCO World Heritage
05:15status for Pravia Temple in 2008, provoking military clashes from 2008 to 2011. Recent years have also
05:25seen military confrontations, diplomacy and ongoing attempts at clarification, none of which have
05:31resolved core disagreements. The border row also kicked off a domestic political crisis in Thailand,
05:37where Prime Minister Petong Tan Shinavatra has been suspended from office pending an ethics probe over Hakanda. A
05:44diplomatic call between Petong Tan and Hun Sen, that is Cambodia's former long-time
05:49ruler and father of Prime Minister Hon Manit was leaked from the Cambodian side, sparking a judicial
05:56investigation. Last week, Hon Manit announced that Cambodia would start conscripting civilians next year,
06:03after activating a long-dormant mandatory draft law.
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