For subscribers

US involvement in Thai-Cambodian border conflict unlikely to produce peace

The playing field between Thailand and Cambodia is not equal.

Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox

Displaced people queue for food at a temporary shelter amid deadly clashes between Thailand and Cambodia along a disputed border area, in Buriram province, Thailand, December 9, 2025. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

Neither Thailand nor Cambodia appears to want a drawn-out war, but nationalist undertones to the conflict have hardened positions on both sides.

PHOTO: REUTERS

Bryanna Entwistle

Follow topic:

Despite being hailed a “peace deal” by US President Donald Trump, the agreement signed at the October ASEAN Summit to end fighting on the Thai-Cambodian border showed cracks just days after the ink dried. 

Thailand suspended the ceasefire in early November after

four soldiers were injured by landmines

they alleged were newly laid by Cambodia, and the agreement collapsed on Dec 8 when F-16s from Thailand bombed several targets along the border.

See more on