Thailand, Cambodia ceasefire ends days of deadly border clashes
Thailand and Cambodia agreed to an immediate, unconditional ceasefire after five days of deadly border clashes. At least 35 people were killed and 270,000 displaced on both sides. The Malaysia-brokered truce follows talks involving US and Chinese diplomats.
Video Duration 01 minutes 15 seconds 01:15
Video Duration 01 minutes 13 seconds 01:13
Video Duration 02 minutes 51 seconds 02:51
Video Duration 02 minutes 47 seconds 02:47
Video Duration 00 minutes 44 seconds 00:44
Video Duration 02 minutes 00 seconds 02:00
Video Duration 00 minutes 52 seconds 00:52
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
2 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Thailand, Cambodia officials meet in Malaysia to cement ceasefire details
Officials from Thailand and Cambodia have met in Malaysia for the start of border talks, a week after a fragile ceasefire brought an end to an eruption of five days of deadly clashes between the two countries. The meeting on Monday came ahead of a key meeting on Thursday, which is expected to be led by the Thai and Cambodian defence ministers. This week's talks, which will be observed by representatives from China, Malaysia and the United States, aim to iron out plans to maintain the current truce and avoid future border confrontations. They will include finalising details for a monitoring team from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Malaysian Chief of Defence Forces General Mohd Nizam Jaffar said on Monday. The sessions in Malaysia follow the worst fighting between Thailand and Cambodia in more than a decade. Clashes along the long-disputed border last month killed at least 43 people, including civilians, and left more than 300,000 others displaced, according to the Reuters news agency. Relations between the neighbours deteriorated in May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a border skirmish, before worsening when Thai soldiers were injured by landmines in contested territory last month. The Southeast Asian countries downgraded diplomatic relations and violence broke out, which both sides blamed the other for starting. The recent fighting involved infantry clashes, artillery exchanges, air strikes and rocket fire. A ceasefire was announced on July 28, in part following economic pressure from US President Donald Trump, who warned both countries that they could not make trade deals with Washington without a ceasefire. Despite the fragile truce, tensions remain high and mistrust between the two sides lingers. Cambodia's defence ministry has accused Thailand of violating the terms of the ceasefire by installing barbed wire in a disputed border area, while the Thai military has suggested that the Cambodian army has reinforced troops in key areas. Both countries have given foreign observers tours of last month's battle sites, while seeking to show the damage allegedly inflicted by the other nation. Thailand and Cambodia also accuse each other of violating international humanitarian laws by targeting citizens. Phnom Penh continues to demand the release of 18 of its captured troops, whom Bangkok says it will only release following 'a complete cessation of the armed conflict, not just a ceasefire'. On Friday, Thailand returned two wounded Cambodian soldiers through a border checkpoint connecting Thailand's Surin province and Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey. The neighbours dispute how the troops came to be captured, with Thailand rejecting Cambodia's claims that the troops approached Thai positions to offer post-conflict greetings.
Al Jazeera
11 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Philippines, India hold first joint naval drill in disputed South China Sea
India and the Philippines have staged their first joint sail and naval exercises in the disputed South China Sea. The two-day joint military deployment that kicked off on Sunday is likely to anger China, which claims nearly the entire key waterway and has separate territorial disputes with the two Asian countries. Philippine Chief of Staff Romeo Brawner Jr said on Monday that the joint sail took place inside his country's exclusive economic zone. 'We did not experience any untoward incidents, but there are still those shadowing us – as we had already expected,' Brawner told reporters, without naming China. In past joint patrols with other foreign navies, Chinese navy and coastguard ships have kept watch from a distance, according to the Philippine military. Indian navy ships that took part included guided missile destroyer INS Delhi, tanker INS Shakti and corvette INS Kiltan. The Philippines deployed two frigates, BRP Miguel Malvar and BRP Jose Rizal. The exercise coincided with President Ferdinand Marcos's departure for a five-day trip to India, where he said he would look to deepen maritime ties and seek cooperation on sectors including defence, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. Brawner, meanwhile, expressed hope that Filipino forces could engage India's military in more joint manoeuvres in the future. The drill 'sends a powerful signal of solidarity, strength in partnership and the energy of cooperation between two vibrant democracies in the Indo-Pacific', he said. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that territorial and maritime disputes should be resolved between the countries directly involved, and no third party should intervene. In response to a question last week about the Philippines' plans to build up military cooperation, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense called the country a 'troublemaker' that has aligned itself with foreign forces to stir up trouble, in what China deems its own territorial waters. 'China never wavers in its resolve and will safeguard national territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and take resolute countermeasures against any provocations by the Philippine side,' spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang had told reporters. The South China Sea is a strategic shipping route where $3 trillion of annual shipborne commerce takes place. A 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal found China's sweeping claims have no basis under international law, a decision Beijing rejects.
Al Jazeera
16 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Trump says US envoy Witkoff to travel to Russia ‘next week'
United States President Donald Trump said his special envoy Steve Witkoff will visit Russia next week to continue talks on the war in Ukraine. Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Trump said Witkoff would visit, 'I think next week, Wednesday or Thursday.' Responding to questions from reporters on what Russia could do to avoid looming sanctions, the US president replied: 'Yeah, get a deal where people stop getting killed.' Trump has threatened to impose 'very severe tariffs' on Russia if it fails to reach a ceasefire deal with Ukraine soon. Trump also said that two nuclear submarines he deployed following an online row with former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev were now 'in the region.' Trump has not said whether he meant nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines. He also did not elaborate on the exact deployment locations, which are kept secret by the US military. Trump's latest comments come after he recently described Russia's actions in its war on Ukraine as 'disgusting', after a Russian attack on an apartment block in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, killed 31 people on Thursday. The attack capped off a month of a record 6,297 Russian long-range drone attacks on Ukraine, a 14-fold increase from July 2024. Ukraine is looking forward to receiving a US-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system, which Trump has promised will be delivered, albeit with funding from Ukraine's European allies, not the Trump administration. Ukraine has also continued to launch its own attacks on Russia, with its most recent attacks on Sunday killing three people across the country and causing a major fire at an oil refinery. A Ukrainian drone attack on Monday morning sparked a fire at a railway station in Russia's Volgograd region, the regional administration said on Telegram. As fighting has continued, Russian and Ukrainian officials have held several meetings in recent months in Istanbul, Turkiye. The latest meeting secured an agreement to exchange 1,200 prisoners, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday. Russia has yet to comment. Witkoff, a real estate magnate and Trump golf partner, has already met with Russian President Vladimir Putin multiple times in Moscow in his role as a White House special envoy. As a special envoy to the Middle East, he is also Trump's representative in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, which saw him visit Tel Aviv, Israel, on Saturday, where he met with the families of captives held in Gaza.
