00:00South East Asian neighbors, Thailand and Cambodia have entered into their sharpest
00:29border escalation in years with deadly consequences.
00:36As of day two, at least 16 civilians have been killed and more than 130,000 displaced
00:43in violent clashes along the disputed frontier.
00:48At the heart of the conflict is an 800 square kilometer stretch of land known as the Emerald
00:54Triangle, home to ancient temples that date back to the 11th century.
01:00Originally dedicated to Lord Shiva and later transformed into Buddhist sites, these temples
01:07are now the epicenter of a growing military conflict between two Buddhist nations.
01:14The Pre-Vihar Temple and Tamun Tam Temple, located along the rugged Dangrik mountain range, are
01:21the most prominent among the temple cluster.
01:26The area's long-standing dispute traces back to colonial era borders drawn by the French
01:32in 1907, which placed the temples within Cambodia's protectorate.
01:38In 1962, the International Court of Justice awarded ownership of the Pre-Vihar Temple to Cambodia.
01:47Thailand accepted the ruling, but contested control over surrounding areas, including other temple sites.
01:55Tensions reignited in 2008, when Cambodia sought to register Pre-Vihar as a UNESCO World Heritage
02:03site, triggering protests and sporadic military clashes.
02:08Over the years, what began as a legal and cultural dispute has hardened into a bitter strategic rivalry.
02:16The latest flare-up began on Wednesday, when Thai forces claimed to have detected a Cambodian
02:22drone breaching its airspace, a claim Phnom Penh strongly denies.
02:30Since then, the situation has spiraled into open warfare, with F-16s deployed, artillery exchanged,
02:38and civilian zones shelled.
02:42Both governments continued to accuse each other of provoking the violence, even as global calls for
02:48restraint grow.
02:51Yet, with cultural heritage, nationalism, and sovereignty all at stake, this centuries-old temple dispute
02:59now threatens to explode into a full-blown war, unless urgent diplomatic steps are caken.
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