Thailand launched air strikes on Cambodian military targets on Thursday as Cambodia fired rockets and artillery, killing at least 11 civilians, in a sharp escalation of a long-running border dispute.<\/p>\n
The two countries are locked in a bitter feud over parts of the Emerald Triangle, where their borders meet Laos and several ancient temples stand.<\/p>\n
AFP takes a look at what’s going on:<\/p>\n
– How did it start? –<\/p>\n
The territorial row has dragged on for decades, but the latest flare-up between the two countries began with military border clashes in May that left one Cambodian soldier dead.<\/p>\n
Since then, the two sides have hit each other with retaliatory measures, with Thailand restricting border crossings and Cambodia halting certain imports.<\/p>\n
Five members of a Thai military patrol were wounded by a landmine blast on Wednesday in the Nam Yuen district of northeastern Ubon Ratchathani province, according to the Thai army.<\/p>\n
The Thai ministry of public health said Thursday at least 11 civilians had been killed in cross-border strikes by Cambodia.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Cambodia’s defence ministry declined to comment on Thursday when asked about casualties on its side.<\/p>\n
– What happened? –<\/p>\n
The conflict blazed on Thursday as Cambodia fired rockets and artillery into Thailand, and Thai F-16s carried out strikes on two Cambodian military targets, officials said.<\/p>\n
A Cambodian shell hit a Thai house, killing one civilian and wounding three, including a five-year-old.<\/p>\n
The clashes erupted near two temples on the border between the Thai province of Surin and Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey, with both sides trading blame.<\/p>\n
Thailand condemned Cambodia as “inhumane, brutal and war-hungry”, accusing it of targeting homes and civilian infrastructure.<\/p>\n
– What is the state of diplomacy? –<\/p>\n
The violence came hours after Thailand expelled the Cambodian ambassador and recalled its own envoy in protest after the landmine injuries.<\/p>\n
Thailand’s embassy in Phnom Penh urged its nationals to leave Cambodia “as soon as possible” unless they had urgent reasons to remain.<\/p>\n
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet on Thursday requested the UN Security Council convene an “urgent meeting” to address what his foreign ministry called “unprovoked military aggression”.<\/p>\n
China, a close ally of Cambodia, said it was “deeply concerned” about the clashes, calling for dialogue.<\/p>\n
Anwar Ibrahim, the prime minister of Malaysia, which currently chairs the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, called on its fellow ASEAN members Thailand and Cambodia to “stand down”.<\/p>\n
– Thai political crisis? –<\/p>\n
The border dispute has also triggered a domestic political crisis in Thailand, where Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was suspended from office pending an ethics probe over her conduct.<\/p>\n
In an attempt to defuse the row, Paetongtarn held a diplomatic call with Hun Sen, Cambodia’s former longtime ruler and father of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet.<\/p>\n
The phone call was leaked from the Cambodian side last month, sparking a judicial investigation.<\/p>\n
– Cambodia’s future conscripts? –<\/p>\n
Hun Manet announced this month that Cambodia would start conscripting civilians next year, activating a long-dormant mandatory draft law.<\/p>\n
He cited rising tensions with Thailand for the decision.<\/p>\n
Cambodia’s conscription law dates back to 2006 but has never been enforced.<\/p>\n
Hun Manet has proposed conscripts serve for two years to bolster the country’s 200,000 personnel, requiring citizens aged 18 to 30 to enlist in the military.<\/p>\n
bur-cdl\/sjc\/pdw\/sco<\/p>\n
\u00a9 Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Thailand launched air strikes on Cambodian military targets on Thursday as Cambodia fired rockets and artillery, killing at least 11 civilians, in a sharp escalation of a long-running border dispute. The two countries are locked in a bitter feud over parts of the Emerald Triangle, where their borders meet Laos and several ancient temples stand. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"7","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[80],"tags":[907,906,95,475],"class_list":["post-3638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-border","tag-cambodia","tag-conflict","tag-thailand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}