A Royal Thai Navy spokesperson said the Thai military had launched an operation to retake border “territories” in Trat province.
Thailand’s military has launched a new offensive against Cambodia in a bid to “take back sovereign territory” and has rejected efforts by US President Donald Trump and others to mediate.
Violence between the two Southeast Asian countries continued on Sunday, a day after Phnom Penh announced it would close all borders with its northern neighbor Thailand.
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The conflict has its roots in a long-running colonial-era dispute over the delimitation of a shared 800-kilometre (500-mile) border. The fighting has left at least 25 soldiers and civilians dead and more than 500,000 people on both sides displaced.
The Royal Thai Navy Spokesperson Rear Admiral Palach Rattanachayapan was quoted by the newspaper Matition Online as saying that the Royal Thai Navy had “launched a military operation to reclaim Thailand’s sovereign territory” in the coastal Trat province.
“The operation began early in the morning with violent clashes and was carried out based on the principles of self-defense and maintaining national sovereignty under international law,” Ratanachaiyapan told The Thai newspaper.
The Thai military said it had “successfully eliminated all opposition forces and captured and recaptured the area.”
Public television station PBS also reported that the country’s military had “planted the Thai flag” after “evicting all opposition forces” from the area.
Thailand’s TV 3 Morning News quoted a military statement as of early Sunday morning saying Thailand’s “army, navy and air force are continuing operations along the border.”
There were no immediate reports of casualties from the incident.
The Cambodian military has not yet issued a statement regarding Sunday’s latest fighting.
However, Cambodian social media reported that there was shelling before dawn in the Tomar Da area of the border province of Pursat, the same area where the Thai military said it had carried out the operation.
border closure
Late Saturday, Cambodia announced it was closing all borders with Thailand due to the fighting.
“The Royal Government of Cambodia has decided to completely suspend entry and exit at all border crossing points between Cambodia and Thailand. This will take effect immediately and remain in force until further notice,” the Cambodian Interior Ministry said in a statement late Saturday.
Despite international pressure to ensure peace, the border closure was another sign of deteriorating relations between the neighbors.
Earlier Saturday, President Trump declared he had reached an agreement between the two countries on a new ceasefire.
But Thai officials said they did not agree to a cessation of fighting. Instead, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has vowed that his army will continue fighting on the disputed border.
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phunketkeo also said on Saturday that some of President Trump’s statements “do not reflect an accurate understanding of the situation” on the ground.
Cambodia has not commented directly on President Trump’s new ceasefire claims, but the Defense Ministry earlier announced that Thai warplanes carried out airstrikes on Saturday morning.
The latest major fighting began with a skirmish on Dec. 7 that left two Thai soldiers injured and derailed a Trump-promoted ceasefire that ended after five days of fighting in July.
The July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and forced through pressure from President Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. More details were formally decided at a regional meeting in Malaysia in October, which President Trump also attended.
President Trump has cited his work on the Southeast Asian conflict in his campaign to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Late Saturday, Trump’s press secretary said in a statement: “The President expects all parties to fully implement the commitments they made when signing these agreements, and he will hold anyone accountable as necessary to stop the killings and ensure lasting peace.”
