Malaysia Calls for Calm in Thailand-Cambodia Conflict

Malaysia on Monday urged both Thailand and Cambodia to show restraint after renewed conflict, warning that the fighting threatened to undo the careful work put into a ceasefire it helped broker.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said – via the X platform – that he urges the two sides to exercise the utmost restraint, maintain open channels of communication, and make full use of existing mechanisms, in reference to the agreement concluded last July.

In turn, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul stressed that his country does not want to see violence, “but the army is ready to take the necessary measures to maintain security and the country’s sovereignty.”

Earlier today, Thai forces announced that they launched air strikes along their disputed border with Cambodia after the two countries exchanged accusations of violating the ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump.

It confirmed that at least one Thai soldier was killed and 4 others were injured in the new clashes that broke out in two areas in the far east of the Thai province of Ubon Ratchathani after its soldiers came under fire from Cambodian forces.

For its part, the Cambodian Ministry of Defense reported in a statement that the Thai army launched attacks at dawn today on its forces in two locations, days after what it called provocative actions, and added that the Cambodian forces did not respond to the attacks.

An official in the Odar Mianche border province in Cambodia also reported that 3 civilians were seriously injured in the fighting that broke out between Thai and Cambodian forces.

The border dispute escalated into a five-day war last July that resulted in the deaths of 48 people and the displacement of more than 300,000 from the two countries before the ceasefire agreement brokered by the US President and the Malaysian Prime Minister. Trump witnessed the signing of an expanded ceasefire agreement between the two countries in Kuala Lumpur last October.

Thailand and Cambodia dispute sovereignty over several sites along their 817-kilometre land border, which was first mapped in 1907 by France when it ruled Cambodia as a colonial state.