Fighting between Thailand and Cambodia has stretched into a third consecutive day, with cross-border shelling and air attacks forcing more than half a million civilians to flee their homes, according to officials from both countries.
Authorities in Bangkok and Phnom Penh on Wednesday traded accusations over who reignited the violence, which has already left at least 13 soldiers and civilians dead this week. The renewed clashes have pushed more than 500,000 people on both sides of the border to evacuate in search of safety.
Thailand’s Ministry of Defence said the humanitarian impact was rapidly escalating. Spokesperson Surasant Kongsiri told reporters that more than 400,000 civilians had been relocated to temporary shelters across seven Thai provinces bordering Cambodia.
“Large-scale evacuations were necessary because civilians faced what we assessed as an imminent threat to their safety,” Surasant said.
The Thai military also reported that rockets fired from Cambodian territory landed close to Phanom Dong Rak Hospital in Surin province early Wednesday. The incident prompted patients and medical staff to rush into bunkers for protection.
Across the border, Cambodia’s Ministry of National Defence said the violence had also displaced tens of thousands. Spokesperson Maly Socheata stated that more than 101,000 people had been evacuated to shelters or relatives’ homes in five Cambodian provinces.
Cambodian media outlet Cambodianess reported that Thai F-16 fighter jets carried out air strikes on two locations inside Cambodia, while artillery shelling continued in at least three other areas. Thai outlet Matichon Online similarly reported that Thai forces deployed F-16s to strike a Cambodian military target along the border.
Meanwhile, Cambodian rockets and artillery fire were reported to have hit 12 front-line areas across four Thai provinces early Wednesday, according to Thailand’s The Nation newspaper. No immediate casualty figures were released.
Fighting spreads along the border
Al Jazeera correspondent Rob McBride, reporting from Surin province, said Thai military sources confirmed clashes in nearly all provinces along the Cambodian border.
“In Surin alone, there have been exchanges of fire at five different locations,” McBride said, adding that many communities were now largely deserted as residents evacuated.
“Hundreds of thousands of people on both sides of the border have fled before, and they are doing so again as the fighting shows no sign of easing,” he said.
Thai officials have insisted they want peace, McBride added, but argue that security for civilians must come first. “As long as the attacks continue, they say those conditions have not been met.”
From Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province, Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo reported that fighting had expanded across five border provinces, pushing more people into evacuation centres.
At one camp sheltering around 10,000 displaced residents, Lo said conditions were difficult. Many families were living under makeshift blue tarpaulins, while others lacked even basic materials to protect themselves from heat and rain.
“There are growing complaints about shortages of aid,” Lo said. “But the biggest issue here is fear — fear that the violence will spread further.”
Residents, he added, were preparing to move again after hearing explosions from kilometres away. “People feel that no matter where they go, danger could still follow them.”
Lo noted that Cambodia’s Senate President and former Prime Minister Hun Sen has hinted at possible retaliatory action, suggesting the conflict may not end quickly.
Diplomatic pressure mounts
The current clashes are the deadliest since five days of fighting in July, when dozens were killed and around 300,000 people were displaced before a fragile ceasefire was reached following mediation by US President Donald Trump.
Speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, Trump said he was prepared to intervene again. “I’m going to have to make a phone call,” he said. “Who else could say I’m going to stop a war between two very powerful countries?”
However, Thailand’s Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow told Al Jazeera he saw little room for negotiations at present, insisting Thailand did not initiate the violence.
Cambodia’s defence ministry, meanwhile, accused Thailand of indiscriminately shelling civilian areas — claims that Bangkok strongly denied.
Human Rights Watch researcher Sunai Phasuk warned that the conflict was intensifying quickly, with particular concern over the use of long-range weapons that pose serious risks to civilians, even those who have already evacuated.
With both sides entrenched and trust eroded, observers warn that without swift international mediation, the fighting could widen further along the long-disputed border between the two neighbours.