The spark came when a Cambodian border patrol officer was shot dead. Cambodia maintains he was killed on Cambodian territory, while Thailand claims he approached their position for unknown reasons. Regardless, the circumstances remain unclear, and no solid evidence has been released to justify the shooting. What is clear is that no Thai soldier was harmed or even threatened in this incident.

In response, the Cambodian former Prime Minister reached out to the Thai Prime Minister. Both leaders agreed to de-escalate and prevent military overreaction. However, this private conversation was leaked—apparently by the former Cambodian PM in a group chat, a possible mistake or strategic move we may never fully understand. The Thai military viewed the PM’s response as too soft, and on July 1st, they effectively stripped her of power, sidelining civilian leadership and taking control of the situation. This was the true turning point.

This war is happening because the Thai military wanted to take over the elected Prime Minister—again. They used the very friendly and peaceful conversation between her and the Cambodian PM as an excuse to call her a weak puppet. They then used that as justification to effectively pull a coup, removing her from power and forming a military junta. Now they need some fighting—and hopefully a military victory—to solidify the coup and gain popular support. Manufacturing a border war was the fastest way to do it.

With the Thai military now in control, tensions rose. Initially, this took the form of economic retaliation—cross-border trade was restricted, vegetable imports were blocked, and border posts partially closed. But soon, things turned violent.

A Thai soldier lost a leg after stepping on a landmine. Thailand immediately blamed Cambodia, claiming it was a newly planted device. However, experts quickly identified the mine as a PMN-2, a Soviet-designed anti-personnel mine widely used by Vietnamese forces in the 1970s. These mines were never part of Cambodian stockpiles in recent decades. In fact, Cambodia underwent a comprehensive mine clearance program in the 1990s under U.S. and international supervision, declaring its border zones cleared of newly planted devices.

The presence of the old PMN-2 mine is consistent with the thousands of legacy mines still buried across Southeast Asia, particularly in former conflict zones. Cambodia stated clearly that the mine was left over from the Vietnam era, and not a hostile act. Despite this, the Thai military chose to treat the incident as a deliberate provocation and used it as a pretext for escalation.

Shortly after, Thailand launched an air strike using an F‑16 fighter jet. While the target remains unclear, reports suggest multiple Cambodian casualties, though the Cambodian government has withheld exact figures. This was the first confirmed cross-border attack, and it came from Thailand.

In response, Cambodia fired BM‑21 Grad rockets toward Thai military positions near the border. However, these old, imprecise rockets missed their targets, hitting a 7‑Eleven and gas station near a Thai military base. Video footage from the Thai side confirms the tragic scene, with several civilian casualties. Thailand later claimed a hospital was hit, but footage shows the rocket landed far from the building and struck only a military field area.

In retaliation, Thailand deployed five more F‑16s (six total) and conducted further airstrikes on Cambodian positions. Civilian impact on the Cambodian side remains unclear, as casualty numbers have not been released.

Cambodia later announced it had shot down a Thai F‑16 with a surface-to-air missile. However, no crash footage, wreckage, or independent verification has emerged. For now, this claim remains unconfirmed and unlikely.

Both sides continue to exchange fire, mostly artillery and drones. Cambodia acknowledged a few civilian casualties, but has not disclosed military losses. Thailand claims 14 civilians and one soldier killed so far. Thailand is reportedly using modern surveillance drones and smart artillery. Cambodia has accused Thailand of using cluster munitions—a serious war crime if true—but this remains unverified.

While both nations bear responsibility for managing their troops and border operations, the sequence of events strongly suggests Thailand’s military provoked the armed conflict.

Cambodia sought diplomacy after a confusing border incident. Thailand's military rejected de-escalation, removed civilian leadership, and launched the first major strike. Cambodian retaliation, though tragic and imprecise, followed an unprovoked Thai air attack. Civilian casualties began after Thailand escalated with airpower.

The public deserves to understand not just who fired the first shot, but who deliberately chose escalation over peace and diplomacy.

>>64028162
>This was the first confirmed cross-border attack, and it came from Thailand.
May we see it? An airstrike leaves extremely obvious aftermath, but so far the media getting posted, starting ~30hr ago, are clips of those notoriously-inaccurate grads landing amid residential areas followed by an F-16 strike 6 hours afterwards. That leaves solid 8+hr (It's not like Cambodian missiles flew seconds after this "surprise attack", there's a chain-of-command delay) window for timestamped footage to substantiate this version of events.

I hope we get some video of the tank battle

>>64028159 (OP)
A lot of
>Actually that particular mine was absoluteley never ever used by Cambodia
with no proof presented. It doesn't matter who fired the first shot or who placed that particular mine, Cambodia has been bellicose for a long time. You can't claim that yesterdays threat of war was only in jest when the war actually arrives.

>>64028159 (OP)
Here's a counterpoint.

>>64028238

Just google PMN-2 mine (the Soviet mine that the Thais are saying caused the injury) and Cambodia you will find dozens of articles from years ago about them being removed by the hundreds in particular near the Thai border. They were used by the vietnamese occupation force in Cambodia fighting the Khmer rouge when they were using the Thai border areas as sanctuaries.

I took one example as pic related. But literally that type of mine is very specifically common near the Thai border.

No more brother wars

>>64028159 (OP)
>military removed Female Prime Minister
Good on the Thai military, she is a puppet

>>64028238
This faggot has been whining and samefagging since the moment it started. He'll start crying about his wife in a bit

>>64028238

>>Cambodia was "bellicose" for a long time

What the fuck do you mean? Things were very friendly between the Thai pm and Cambodia, they had close family ties too. Loads of Thai tourists coming every day and loads of Cambodians going to Thailand every day. Recently had the train link between Thailand and Cambodia actually working even. If it was completed a couple of years ago.

Literally everyone being buddy buddy besides some football tier banter online between youths over who really invented some clothing styles and who really invented some foods type of banter.
I see much worse here on 4 chan.

Everything was ok since 2008 till the day the Cambodian border guard got shot.

Even after the Cambodian border guards got shot everything was getting easily solved till the Thai military deposed the Thai PM and needed a real conflict to justify the power grab.

Simple as.

>>64028288
Given the timing of this incident, the fact that these exact mines were cleared out of this exact area in the past actually heavily INCREASES suspicion of Cambodia, anon. It could be coincidence, perhaps, but why didn't anyone step on one of these mines until just now? Seems more likely that some (retarded) Cambodian commander started taking initiative to prepare mine fields for an anticipated conflict.

I don't think it's possible to care less about any other conflict like I do about this particular one but, as a centrist, upon briefly seeing the AI slop image, Pidor-GPT like wall of text trying to be subtle, I know Cambodia is probably Russia/China aligned and therefore wish nothing but as much destruction on them as inhumanely possible. I don't care about Thailand but may each Cambodian strike pulverize every sex tourist there, as well as their respective sex-worker and all their extended family. That is all.

>>64029039
>I see much worse here on 4 chan.
>here on 4 chan.
>4 chan.
>4 chan.
Laugh at this thing. Laugh at it and hope that it causes it to die in great pain.

>>64029195

So there are effectively two possibilities.

A) somehow in a moment of heavy patrolling, very dense military presence and drone surveillance a group of Cambodians made it behind the Thai line of control and specifically using recycled 1970s AP mines dug out of the ground and planted them again on the predicted path of a Thai patrol successfully, at minimum twice, without ever getting caught.

B) during much the heavier military presence and patrolling than usual a Thai guy stepped out of the cleared path.


I think B is far more likely than A. Honestly the more I think about A the more retarded of a concept it is when considering that that landmine model is such a specific type that was only in use by the vietnamese occupation government between the Khmer rouge and Cambodia being under UN TAC control. The only reason the Thai government is claiming this bullshit is that they really needed some problem to blame on Cambodia as after they Thai military junta deposed the elected PM they needed a good reason to have a "strong military person" in charge so that people didn't get mad about what is effectively another military coup. The Thai military had been chomping at the bit for some time to get full power back in their hands. The issue is that Cambodia literally did nothing for months even after the killing of the Cambodian border guard besides minor economic actions like stop buying a few Thai goods and internet bandwidth from Thailand. So it was a problem for the Thai military to justify a "temporary" military government you need a military issue. And the their first casualty came as this guy stepping on an old mine. So they had to find a way to blame Cambodia about it so that they could have some justification poke at Cambodia more and trigger some reaction from the Cambodians. Which they successfully did by dropping bombs in response to the mines. The bombs killed several Cambodian soldiers and Cambodia fired back with what they have.

>>64030219
>Blah blah blah my jingoism is le justified
No one cares

>>64028159 (OP)
Get China to hammer out a back door deal on the specifics and use third parties to put on a face saving meeting between the Royal families, neither nation needs this bullshit.

Basically the US is putting pressure on China through the Vietnamese military.

>>64028159 (OP)
>They then used that as justification to effectively pull a coup, removing her from power and forming a military junta.
Fucking again?
>The call recording showed Paetongtarn addressing Hun Sen as "uncle" and referring to herself as his "niece".[72] Urging him to ignore "our opponents", Paetongtarn cited "the commander of the Second Army Region", Thai general Boonsin Padklang, as "a man of the opponents", who "wanted to look smart", and "said what was not beneficial to the nation" (Boonsin had declared that Thailand was "ready to fight"); instead Paetongtarn asserted: "we want the peace that happened before the clash at the border".[72] Paetongtarn commented that she did not publicly react to Hun Sen's hostile Facebook posts regarding the border because she "loves and respects" Hun Sen.[74] Paetongtarn further said that if Hun Sen "wants anything, he can just tell me, and I will take care of it."
Okay, she kind of deserved it for speaking like that. That's a strange, extremely familiar way of speaking and does indeed sound very subservient.

>>64028159 (OP)
Would

>>64028159 (OP)
Explain it to me like I'm American.

You're the filthy commies and the Thai are the good guys, right?

>>64028159 (OP)
>>64030219
>>64031711
I just don't get why Cambodia thought they could win. Their PM is so desperate for land and legacy that he really thought this was something he could pull off.

>>64031798
Basically yeah. Cambodians are literally run by a khmer rouge veteran who helped oversee the deaths of millions, literally 1/4 of Cambodia's entire population. Vietnamese can't stand them either, they're just the chimpouts of Asia.

>>64031825
Thanks, thought so but wasn't sure.

>>64031833
And they just launched rockets at Laos for some reason. They're a bit loopy.

>>64031845
I know GRADs are shit but how do you miss an entire country?

>>64031852
Likely deliberate. They've gone full apeshit.

>>64031886
So, let me get this straight. They are attacking Laos, which is aligned with Pidorland (they just sent a battalion or so of engineers to Kursk) while they themselves use primarily legacy soviet gear, potentially pissing off an ally/weapons supplier AND the owner of the only land route from which aid could flow in? Because Vietnam sure as hell doesn't seem inclined to.

Are they fucking retarded? Or is it just SEA things?

>>64031911
Everything so far has been about stirring shit and seeing what sticks. The Cambodian government leaked a call where the Thai PM was trying to take the temperature down by basically offering to listen to any and all Cambodian demands. They knew it wouldn't achieve their goals and only make things worse but did it anyway because it's all about sowing chaos and trying to rally the base.

>>64031924
I guess it's true what they say, "common sense ain't that common".

>>64028159 (OP)
Which side is China taking?

>>64031986
Despite any memes going around, China unironically just wants this to wrap up asap and it doesn't care who does the wrapping. Since Thais are the ones gaining ground and raising flags over captured territory while Cambodia is just wildly lobbing rockets hoping for a miracle, even attacking Laos now, I'd say both Washington and Beijing have the most to gain by Cambodia folding at this point.

China doesn't want war threatening its regional investments and America would be just fine with Thailand taking a chunk out of a country that's already letting the PLAN use its ports.

>>64031825

You are retarded please don't talk if you need to spread crap.

>>64031833

Don't listen to that moron, read below:

The guy in charge now in Cambodia is the US trained Hun Manet which is a west point graduate.

His dad was a child soldier for the Khmer rouge which turned against them after seeing what they where doing and was instrumental into getting rid of the Khmer rouge from cambodia. The guy has no love for commies, he is as capitalist as they come. His father is still a very influential figure even if he isn't in great health.

>>64030399
Edit into two roosters fighting.

>>64031986
I don't think the Chinese government is taking any side. Officially they're saying both sides need to stop fighting while vaguely blaming muh foreign devil robber colonialism as the cause of the problem. HOWEVER the Chinese comments from the hotheads that I've been looking at are contemptuous towards the Cambodians. A lot of bashing of Hun Sen over leaking the phone call. Cambodia also has a bad reputation in China for hosting scam centers run by mafias targeting Chinese.

>>64032199
What I think people don't understand about the Khmer Rouge is that it was basically a giant peasant chimpout. A bit like The Hills Have Eyes crossed with Sierra Leone. There was a small elite in Phnom Penh who LARPed as French sophisticates as rural-to-urban migration exploded. Then multiple peasant armies converged on the capital, then force-marched the urban population out into rural farms where a bunch more of them died. But it was really chaotic and random. In some places, people who were associated with the former regime did okay, while in other places they got butchered by the locals because the newcomers "weren't from around here." There's a historian named Michael Vickery who lived in Cambodia and knew the language and chalked up a lot of violence to it being a peasant thing and compared them to the Narodniks to Russia in the 19th century and were basically motivated out of hatred for anything non-peasant.

>>64029355
This is a moderate opinion

>>64030219
>wah wah Cambodia doesn't want a conflict this is all Thailands fault
>fires another grad salvo

>>64028162
>These mines were never part of Cambodian stockpiles
bahahahah
my nigga your military report of ammunition cache explosion a while ago literally confirms yall use PMN-2
>The presence of the old PMN-2 mine is consistent with the thousands of legacy mines still buried across Southeast Asia, particularly in former conflict zones. Cambodia stated clearly that the mine was left over from the Vietnam era, and not a hostile act. Despite this, the Thai military chose to treat the incident as a deliberate provocation and used it as a pretext for escalation.
and the nigga who stepped over the mine was patrolling on their usual route, which had already been cleared before everything happened.

>>64032241

the explosion was a pile of old UXOs recently dug up in the process of being destroyed as it is done every month with the clearing teams in action for decades. Unfortunately the explosion blew up half a military base and killed many. Be assured the UXO that went off wasn't a couple of rusty AP mines being disposed of as per regular mine removal. It was a bomb. Anyway there is no secret that Cambodia dig up some PMN-2 almost every month. The point is that you Thais are changing the story already from:

Cambodia is the aggressor and our attack is justified because the mine was obviously new!

Now thet everyone that knows anything about mines proved them wrong, making the whole escalation completely and utterly nonsensical.


So now the narrative shifted to: it was an old mine ok but you guys must have moved it!

They Thai literally said they extended the patrol routes because of the heightened tensions. And during most of the calm time both side just sat at pillboxes.

Also unless it was cleared again recently every year in Cambodia landmines move during the heavy monsoon season anywhere that isn't perfectly flat as the soil turns to knee deep mud and things shift around

Also BTW the procedure for PMN-2 is to blow them up in situ 90% of the time because too many of those are rigged against removal. Many other mines are much easier to move. So it is a particularly bad pick to move an old PMN-2

Thailand keeps trying to steal a temple that practically every country on the planet recognize as Cambodian (including US, china,EU, japan and all nearly 200 ICJ member countries) which Thailand already went to the international court for it twice and lost both time.

So now the Thais are pulling a Putin and not giving a crap about any international laws or to even have an honest justification for attacking. Still attacked anyway while everyone was trying to solve the issue a d now the Thais are crying while they bomb Cambodia the moment Cambodia fires back

Holy fuck this shill is hilarious

>>64032295
>redditspacing
Fuck off.

>>64032346
>Newfag crying about "Redditspacing"

>>64032295
>Thais are changing the story already from:
i genuinely dont give a fuck about justification anymore, we're at war since before US gain its independence.
>Thailand keeps trying to steal a temple that practically every country on the planet recognize as Cambodian (including US, china,EU, japan and all nearly 200 ICJ member countries) which Thailand already went to the international court for it twice and lost both time.
We cannot annex anymore land my nigga, this war is about giving Cambodia a hard slap to chill them the fuck down
>Thais are pulling a Putin and not giving a crap about any international laws or to even have an honest justification for attacking.
Hello? Based department?
>Thais are crying while they bomb Cambodia the moment Cambodia fires back
My nigga, what i see Cambodian officials keep saying that Thailand bombing them is wrong
While Thai officials basically said "I dont give a fuck"
Even China want to intervene we basically tell them to fuck off.

>>64030399
>International arms producers watching two third world countries go at it

How serious is this war? Is it just going to get negotiated away in a few days?

>>64032501
Cambodia is already saying they want to negotiate

>>64032501
Basic bitch skirmish, neither side actually wants a war it is all for domestic political posturing.

>>64032415

It's a pretty retarded move for the nation in general.

The only people that are benefitting from this war are the Thai general doing the power grab.

The country is going to lose billions in tourism as people get immediately scared and cancel vacations. And with Trump sanctions coming in hard on both Cambodia and Thailand in the middle of an already weak economy is going to really be bad for Thailand. Cambodia is already pretty broke so there isn't as much to lose but it sucks for Cambodia too. Really a lose a lose game unless you are a Thai military general.

>>64032889

Cambodia was ready to solve it since the first border guard got shot. Just listen to the conversation between the deposed Thai pm and the old Cambodian PM.

The only reason it escalated is because the Thai generals took the opportunity to grab power and now need to justify it by showing that there is the need for a strong military leadership in power.

Effectively Thailand is tossing billions on the bin to get ruled by another military junta and a good part of the Thai population is just shallowing the military story hook and sinker.

>>64028159 (OP)
>>64028162
>>64028165
Thanks anon, I fact checked you and it seems legit.
It does look like the military just trying to gain popular support.

For the shills / people that can't do their own fact checking.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vrrj72xy7o
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/cambodia-says-soldier-killed-brief-border-skirmish-with-thai-troops-2025-05-28/

>The shill continues to cry and samefag
Kek, booking a two week vacation to Thailand right now. Khmer harder little man

>>64032950
>samefag
Anon I'm >>64032723
Sorting out my passport right now.

I just get why the fuck Hun Sen leaked the recording. Why give the Thai army a way to circumvent the civilian government that could be negotiated with? What the hell does Cambodia get out of that? International rulings on the border have always gone in Cambodia's favor, and because every news agency only has a Bangkok office, Cambodia can't even state it's (still suspect) case. It just doesn't make any fuckin sense

>>64033085
He's actually demented. He thought he could score some kind of win out of it but all he did was show Thais that back channel diplomacy is wasted on him and the only language he understands is violence. Of which Thailand has oodles to spare.

>>64033085

>>64033112

Yeah the only conclusion I can make is that he's retarded. He literally sold out his influence in the Thai civilian government for nothing and now we got a ton of dead civilians on both sides and an unwinnable situation, he must be REALLY banking on Chinese intervention or something at this point

>>64028159 (OP)
>AI slop illustration
Okay boomer, didn't read.

>>64033085
Wouldn't it make more sense for it to be leaked by Thai military or intelegence that actually gained from it?

>>64033085

If he leaked that document on purpose and it wasn't a Pete Eggset tier mistake (because part of it leaked first which made the Thai PM look a bit too friendly so I believe he released the full conversation thinking it would look better but it didn't because apparently after shooting your neighbor border guards you are supposed to also talk rudely to the neighbor Prime minister instead of just being friendly so that it all goes into nothing?)

But if he released it purposefully the old guy might have thought it would help the populations calm down.

Al if you listen to the conversation you would really think it would calm everyone down after the Cambodian border guards got shot and the tensions raised.

The Cambodian and Thai PM clearly were very confident about solving the situation without any conflict and the conversation also clearly said that the only roadblock to a quick peace and everything to go back to usual is that the Thai generals were not willing to listen to the Thai PM and back down from the disputed line but that she (Thai PM) would deal with their stubborness.

At this point no Thai soldier was even injured but the Thai generals already were pushing for conflict and did a massive amount of combative talk as well ramping up military presence to the border. Just to remind at this point Cambodia was still completely passive and the most they did over killed soliders and military build up was to stop buying Thai gas and internet bandwidth temporarily. So everything was so extremely minor and on the way to a solution as soon as the Thai PM managed to get a grip on her generals.

However the generals instead used the tape to justify deposing the elected PM on the basis of her being too soft and weak and friendly (which at that point was the only thing she had to do to prevent all the conflict. Just show some sympathy towards the killed Cambodia soldier and she did that)

>>64028159 (OP)
Here's Cambodia Thailand war explained by Thai point of view

>>64034996
People with good intention don't leaks private talk like that.

>>64031886
Impressive chimpout desu

>>64035055
Ignore him anon, he's a relentless shill

>>64033197
It's obvious he thought he could just kill Thais, run to the UN and get a quick ceasefire and have it play well at home (Thai PM being conciliatory + dead Thais = Cambodia stronk!) but he fucked up hard by killing Thai civilians. Now Thailand has every incentive to push every advantage it has to completely raping the shit out of Hun's regime.