As Thailand-Cambodia border clashes enter second day, more than 1,35,000 displaced.

As tensions escalates between the Southeast Asian neighbouring countries over disputed sections of their 500-mile (800-kilometer) land border, demarcated partly by Cambodia’s former colonial ruler France, and which runs near several archaeologically significant religious sites that both countries claim.

Clashes broke out at 04:30 AM local time on Friday after Cambodia initiated firing, using small arms and heavy weapons, Colonnel Richa Sooksuwanon, the deputy spokesperson for the Thai army, told Media. As an act of retaliation, Thai army responded with artillery fire, he said.

Clashes were taking place in two locations in Ubon Ratchathani province and one in Surin province, the Thai Army said, warning the public to avoid the area. Heavy weapon and rocket fire had been reported coming from Cambodia, it said. It also warned that its forces were conducting bomb disposal operations and recovering bodies from the Kantharalak district that had been hit by Cambodian rockets on Thursday.

Earlier, Thursday’s clashes saw exchanges of small arms and rocket fire between Thailand – a United States treaty ally – and its smaller neighbour Cambodia. Thailand later scrambled F-16 jets and bombed what it said were military targets inside Cambodia. Both countries also have close ties with China, which, along with the US, has called for de-escalation.

And in Cambodia, at least one person has been killed and five wounded, according to a spokesperson Met Measpheakdey, who is from Oddar Meanchey province, which borders Thailand’s Buri Ram, Surin and Si Saket provinces. He added that as of Friday morning, tensions were “still heated”. “The exchange of fighting… is still happening”, he said.

Cambodian officials accused the Thai military of using cluster munitions at two locations early Friday. More than 4,000 people in Cambodia have been displaced from their homes near the border, citing another official from Oddar Meanchey.

Till the last hour of Thursday, more than 130,000 Thai residents had evacuated to temporary shelters, according to the Thai Ministry of Health. Footage from Surin province showed evacuees sheltering in a university, resting on mats on the floor and eating out of plastic containers.

The US Embassy in Thailand on Friday advised American citizens to avoid traveling within 50 kilometres (31 miles) of the Thailand-Cambodia border amid the ongoing clashes.

THE DISPUTED BORDER –

Thailand and Cambodia have a relationship of both cooperation and rivalry. The land border — largely mapped by France when it ruled Cambodia — has periodically seen military clashes and been the source of political tensions. But tensions had been building since May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed during a clash between Thai and Cambodian troops in which both sides opened fire in another contested border area of the Emerald Triangle, where Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet. The recent flare-up came after five Thai soldiers were wounded in a landmine explosion on Wednesday.

“Both sides, Cambodians and Thais, feel resentful of history”, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a professor of political science at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok. Thais think that the French took some land from Thailand, gave it to Cambodia. Cambodians think that this is their civilisation from a long, long time ago, and ultimately this is their land”.

But it’s not an evenly matched fight. Thailand’s military, dwarfs Cambodia in both personnel and weaponry; its 361,000 active-duty personnel is three times Cambodia’s manpower. But the United States addresses Thailand as a major non-NATO ally, enabling Bangkok to enjoy decades of US support for its weapons programs.

Thailand is currently crippled with uncertainty; its Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra suspended from duties in July after the leak of a phone call she had with Cambodia’s powerful former leader Hun Sen, in which she appeared to criticise her own army’s actions in the dispute.

Thailand’s military has long been a major player within the kingdom’s politics and has seized power in multiple coups, often toppling democratic governments. It portrays itself as the ultimate defender of the monarchy.

Team Maverick