Thailand-Cambodia Border Clashes Rage On With Drones and Rockets Despite Peace Talks

As officials meet to talk peace, rockets and drones continue to fly. Thailand and Cambodia reported new fighting along their disputed border on Wednesday, the same day the first talks between their defense officials began since violence flared up again. The conflict, which reignited on December 7, has already killed more than 40 people and displaced an estimated one million.

Trading Fire and Accusations

Thailand's military said clashes occurred in the Sisaket and Surin border provinces. According to Thai media, its forces responded to CambodianBM-21 rocket attacks with artillery, tank fire, and drones. The Thai army stated that one of its soldiers was injured and that its forces struck more than 19Cambodian military targets.

Conversely, Cambodia's Ministry of National Defence accused Thai forces of conducting air attacks, hitting a civilian residential area in Battambang province with four bombs. The education ministry also released a video allegedly showing students fleeing a school in panic during the raid. The Khmer Times reported that two civilians were injured by Thai shelling in another province.

Low Expectations for a Breakthrough

The talks are being held within an existing bilateral border committee, with ASEAN countries acting as observers. However, Al Jazeera reported from Phnom Penh that the meeting isn't a political forum where a ceasefire can be signed. "At best," the report noted, the talks are about "stabilising the situation... and keeping those lines of communication open." Any meaningful agreement would need to come from political leaders in Bangkok and Phnom Penh, with the US and China also urging a resolution.

The conflict stems from a long-standing territorial dispute over the colonial-era demarcation of their 800km (500-mile) border and ancient temple ruins. In a separate accusation, a Cambodian official claimed Thai forces on Monday demolished a Hindu statue of Vishnu. The Thai military hasn't commented on the statue but did reject claims of using cluster munitions to harm civilians, stating they were used against military targets and that neither country is a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM).