Thai-Cambodia conflict now a forest fire out of control

Murray Hunter


Thai-Cambodia conflict now a forest fire out of control


Dec 14, 2025



Outside court last Thursday with TLHR



Sorry for my long absence. The floods in Hat Yai destroyed my car and took away everything on the bottom floor of my home. Meanwhile I have been in Bangkok defending my case against the Malaysian MCMC. There are still lots of bail restrictions about what I can write about, and I am missing many important issues going on in Malaysia now.

I am very sorry. Hope to get back to normal again soon.

As we have reached the end of the first week of a renewed round of fighting along the Thai-Cambodia conflict, there is now a realization that there is no longer any mutually trusted mechanism by both sides to attempt to bring fighting back under control and broker a cease fire once again. The conflict is effectively a forest fire burning out of control.

US President Donald Trump and Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim called for a ceasefire for 10.00 Thai-time on Saturday 13, both parties just ignored it. Thai prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul is spurred on with an immediate rise in Thai nationalism not wanting any cease fire. As of this weekend December 13-14, its at football match fever. This is even though more than a dozen Thai army troops from poor rural families are already casualties of the fierce skirmishes along the disputed border areas.

The Thai military has made deep strikes into Cambodian territory taking out ‘military’ and political targets, while the Cambodian Army are sending in armed UAVs or drones into Thai Territory. Both sides are trying to reinforce their grip on the disputed demarcation lines along contested border areas.

Its not perfectly clear which side commenced the hostilities this time around. Cambodian authorities claim they are victims of Thai aggression, while the Thais claim that freshly laid mines on Thai territory injuring Thai servicemen patrolling disputed border areas.

However, the advent of this second round of hostilities came just a week after Thai premier Anutin was heavily criticized for the unpreparedness of government flood response during the Hat Yai floods. The floods were screened on local Thai TV 24/7 with Thais attacking the government, in particular the prime minister. With the beginning of the conflict with Cambodia a week later, the national media switched completely around towards covering the armed conflict, where Anutin has been portrayed as standing up to Cambodian aggression. Anutin called a snap general election on December 12, which must be held before mid-February 2026, with a surge of popularity behind him.

However, effectively the war effort on the Thai side is run by General Ukris Boontanondha, the current chief of Thai defense forces and his field commanders. Its obvious the Thai military planners had a detailed plan on the ready.

On the Cambodian side, the media is playing the victim card, but as the war progresses this will become less important. The senate president and former prime minister Hun Sen is in charge of the Cambodian war effort, which has prepared new offensive strategies, not unsimilar to what the Ukrainian army uses into Russian territory.

Those who are suffering the most are farming families along the 400 km long border with Thai-Cambodia along with their counterparts on the Cambodia side. With almost constant artillery battes going on along the border, hundreds of thousands have been evacuated on both sides, with Thai bombing reaching as far as Siem Reap province according to reports. Due to the veracity of the fighting its estimated some 400,000 people are involved in relocation efforts.

This comes at a time when the tourist high season is just about to swing in. Many western governments have already warned their citizens not to go anywhere near war-torn areas as it very unstable.

With President Trump’s appeal for a ceasefire ignored and current ASEAN Chair Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim’s call for a ceasefire ignored, there are no external mechanisms Thailand and Cambodia can rely upon to broker any potential ceasefire. To date, China is staying neutral in the dispute, leaving little room for any potential mediation in the near-term. In Thailand, any ongoing war may benefit conservative political parties aligned with the military during the election campaign over the coming weeks. However, if casualties keep building up this could change. Consequently, this latest breakout in fighting could last a while until military armaments start becoming depleted.

This could see the Thai-Cambodian conflict continuing another couple of weeks.