The long simmering boundary dispute between Thailand and Cambodia exploded in late July 2025 into deadly open warfare. Within hours on July 24, troops and heavy weapons were engaged along their 817 km (508 mile) frontier much of it inherited from a 1907 Franco-Siamese treaty leading to a brief but intense war. Thailand reported that Cambodian forces opened fire near the Khmer temple of Ta Muen Thom and shelled Thai villages, killing civilians. In one incident Thailand’s health minister said 12 people (11 civilians and one soldier) died in Cambodian artillery strikes, with dozens more wounded. Thailand, a U.S. treaty ally, answered with air power: an F 16 jet struck a Cambodian military site, and further F 16s were put on standby.
Cambodia fresh from joint drills with China fired rockets and artillery back at Thai positions. Reuters noted that within a day “the fighting … escalated from small arms fire to heavy artillery and rockets” on both sides. Thai and Cambodian officials each accused the other of provoking the conflict and targeting civilians. In total the five-day border battle left roughly 38–48 people dead (almost all civilians) and displaced over 300,000. Thailand’s cabinet even collapsed under the crisis pressure. Under heavy international pressure including calls from U.S. President Donald Trump both sides agreed to a ceasefire on July 28, ending the most serious fighting in years along their colonial era frontier.
Colonial Legacy and Long-Standing Dispute
This flashpoint has deep roots. The contested boundary was drawn by France and Siam (Thailand’s predecessor) in 1904–07. After Cambodia’s independence, the International Court of Justice (1962) awarded the ancient Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia, but surrounding lands remained unresolved. Nationalist sentiment on both sides has periodically inflamed tensions. Similar skirmishes along this border broke out in 2008–2011, in part over competing claims to a 1,000-year-old Hindu temple complex. In 2025, tensions had been rising: a Cambodian soldier was killed in a May skirmish, and in late July Thai authorities reported their soldier losing a leg to a landmine (which they blamed on Cambodian forces) just a day before the outbreak. Thus the July 24 fighting did not appear entirely out of the blue it ignited after weeks of stand-off and tit for tat incidents along the border.
Flashpoint: How the Fighting Began
Thai soldiers and police patrol near the disputed border in Surin province on July 24, 2025, as fighting erupts. The immediate clash began on the morning of July 24. Thailand’s military claimed that Cambodian troops had opened fire first near the Ta Muen Thom temple, then launched artillery into Thai villages. One Thai deputy spokesman declared, “We have used air power against military targets as planned” after an F 16 strike hit a Cambodian artillery battery. Cambodia flatly denied firing first; its officials said Thai forces had struck Cambodian positions, and they answered with rocket salvos.
The border fronts spanning multiple provinces became battlegrounds: Thai health officials counted a dozen killed in Cambodia’s shelling (including a child) and dozens wounded, while Cambodian authorities said their villages were hit by Thai artillery (though they initially reported no Cambodian casualties). By day’s end the skirmish had dramatically escalated. Thailand closed all nearby border checkpoints, and both armies reinforced frontline posts. Each side accused the other of “unprovoked, premeditated” aggression. Within 24 hours what began as exchanges of rifle fire had ballooned into a heavy bombardment from both sides from rocket launchers to fighter jets.
The Humanitarian Toll
Thai civilians carry their belongings after fleeing the border fighting, at a government evacuation center in Surin province. As guns blazed, tens of thousands of civilians fled for safety. Reuters reported that in just five days the clashes displaced over 300,000 people on both sides. Entire villages in northeastern Thailand and western Cambodia emptied out. Thai and Cambodian governments set up emergency shelters. In Thailand, pictures show evacuated families sleeping on mats in school gyms and community halls.
Reuters journalists on the ground described “deserted” border towns and long lines of evacuees quietly queuing for rations. One 54 year old Thai evacuee told reporters, “I just want them [the armies] to cease firing so that I can go home”. Aid agencies warned of shortages of food, water and medicine as people huddled in camps. Schools near the border closed, and local economies ground to a halt. The sudden humanitarian crisis underscored how deadly the old territorial dispute had become when it turned to war.
Diplomatic Intervention and Ceasefire
Amid the violence, urgent diplomacy took over. ASEAN chair Malaysia’s prime minister Anwar Ibrahim pressed for talks, and U.S. officials also intervened. Former U.S. President Trump said on July 26 that he had phoned both Thai and Cambodian leaders and demanded peace: he warned their countries risked losing U.S. trade deals, noting that each was facing a 36% tariff on exports unless hostilities stopped. In just two days after these calls, negotiators convened in Putrajaya on July 28. Malaysian officials announced that the leaders had agreed to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire to halt the fighting. The truce took effect at midnight. Malaysia’s PM hailed the deal as “a vital first step towards de escalation and the restoration of peace”.
Under the ceasefire terms, both armies agreed to stop offensive operations and withdraw certain heavy weapons (mines and artillery) from the border. The Thai side also agreed not to place new forces in disputed temple areas, while Cambodia agreed to impose laws in contested villages. With the ceasefire in place, Trump took to social media to celebrate “the President of PEACE” posting that “we have saved thousands of lives” by ending the war. He said he had instructed his team to restart trade talks, implying that tariffs would be eased now that fighting stopped.
Aftermath and Regional Response
A Cambodian mother clutches her child at a Thai evacuation center after crossing the border during the clashes. The ceasefire halted large scale combat, but both sides remained wary. Almost immediately each side accused the other of ignoring the truce. PolitiFact noted that neither side fully stood down Phnom Penh and Bangkok each claimed small violations by the other in the days after July 28. Thailand kept its new razor-wire barriers on the border and said it would enforce Thai law in frontier villages, a move that Cambodia protested. In mid-September, about 200 Cambodian villagers crossed briefly into Thailand to dismantle a new fence in protest; Thai police used tear gas and rubber bullets to repel them.
Politically, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet publicly thanked Trump for his role, saying the Malaysia talks had achieved “brilliant results” and praising the U.S. mediation. In August Cambodia went further: Hun Manet wrote to the Nobel committee nominating Trump for the Peace Prize, lauding his “crucial role” in restoring stability at the border. Analysts saw this as part of Cambodia’s pivot back toward Washington after years of close ties to China. On August 7, Washington Post and Time reported Cambodia’s move as a dramatic gesture of gratitude. Trade considerations followed too: the new U.S. tariffs were immediately reduced to 19% for Thailand and Cambodia once the truce held, easing one of Trump’s own pressures on the negotiations.
Conclusion: A Fragile Truce
The brief July 2025 war on the Thailand Cambodia frontier underscores how quickly historical grievances can flare into violence. Under outside pressure the shooting stopped, but the core territorial dispute remains unresolved. Experts warn that without settling the underlying claims to temples, villages and ranch lands the ceasefire is fragile. For now, large scale battles have paused and diplomatic channels are open. The countries agreed in October at a regional summit (in Kuala Lumpur) to sign a broader “Kuala Lumpur Accord” to solidify the truce.
Yet both militaries are still dug in along the border. As PolitiFact observed, Trump’s role did help bring the parties back from the brink, but clashes have even resumed sporadically since the ceasefire was announced. The diplomatic push – by ASEAN, the U.S., Malaysia and China achieved a short term halt in hostilities. But most analysts consider the conflict only paused, not finally ended: decades of mistrust and contested history on both sides mean that the “un endable” war may yet reignite if its root causes are not addressed.
Sources: News reports from Reuters, The Guardian, PolitiFact, and regional media provide detailed accounts of the July 2025 clashes, casualty figures, and ceasefire talks. Congressional and expert analyses (cited above) confirm that neither side fully disarmed after the truce. All facts above are based on these contemporaneous sources.