What you need to know
• Thailand launched airstrikes against Cambodian military targets along their long-disputed border, escalating tensions between the Southeast Asian neighbors. Cambodia said it would “respond decisively.” Hours earlier, military clashes in multiple areas along the border killed civilians in Thailand.
• The strikes come a day after a Thai soldier lost his leg to a landmine on the border, prompting a downgrade of diplomatic ties by both Bangkok and Phnom Penh as relations collapse to their lowest level in years.
• Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended this month and could face dismissal after the leak of a phone call she had with Cambodia’s powerful former leader Hun Sen, in which she appeared to criticize her army’s actions in the dispute.
• Thailand and Cambodia have a relationship of both cooperation and rivalry. They share a 500-mile (800-kilometer) land border — largely mapped by France when it ruled Cambodia — that has periodically seen military clashes and been the source of political tensions.
•Cambodia’s prime minister urges UN Security Council to convene urgently to “stop Thailand’s aggression”
Cambodia’s Prime Minister has called on the United Nations Security Council to convene an “urgent meeting” to “stop Thailand’s aggression,” after fighting intensified between the neighbors.
Prime Minister Hun Manet said Thai armed forces launched “unprovoked, premeditated and deliberate attacks on Cambodian positions along the border areas,” accusing it of violating international law in a letter to Security Council President Asim Iftikhar Ahmad.
“Facing this flagrant aggression, Cambodian troops had no option but to respond in self-defense in order to safeguard Cambodia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” wrote Hun Manet.
“It is profoundly reprehensible that this act of aggression occurs while Cambodia is actively pursuing peaceful and impartial legal avenues to resolve outstanding border issues with Thailand through both bilateral and international mechanisms.”
Thailand has accused Cambodia of violating both its sovereignty and international law by laying landmines within Thai territory on the disputed border, and by firing rockets into civilian areas this morning.
“The Royal Thai Government calls upon Cambodia to take responsibility for the incidents that have occurred, cease attacks against civilian and military targets, and stop all actions that violate Thailand’s sovereignty,” the Thai Foreign Ministry said.
Thailand was “prepared to intensify our self-defense measures if Cambodia persists in its armed attack and violations,” its statement said
