• Thailand and Cambodia exchanged heavy artillery fire on July 25 as border fighting intensified and spread.

• The clashes, which began on July 24, reportedly involved exchanges of gunfire, artillery shelling and rocket fire, with Thailand having conducted airstrikes inside Cambodian territory.

• More than 131,000 people in Thailand and over 4,000 in Cambodia have been displaced, according to relief partners. Temporary shelters, including schools and temples, are overcrowded, and food, shelter and medical assistance are urgently needed.

• The UN Secretary-General has urged “utmost restraint” amid intensifying border clashes as the Security Council met behind closed doors to address the most serious escalation between the two Southeast Asian neighbours in more than a decade.

Previous flashpoints

• Thailand and Cambodia have for more than a century contested sovereignty at various undemarcated points along the over 800 km land border, which was first mapped by France in 1907 when Cambodia was its colony.

• That map, which Thailand later contested, was based on an agreement that the border would be demarcated along the natural watershed line between the two countries.

• In 2000, the two countries agreed to establish a Joint Boundary Commission to peacefully address overlapping claims, but little progress has been made towards settling disputes.

• Claims over ownership of historical sites have raised nationalist tension between the two countries.

• An 11th century Hindu temple called Preah Vihear, or Khao Phra Viharn in Thailand, has been at the heart of the dispute for decades, with both Bangkok and Phnom Penh claiming historical ownership.

• The International Court of Justice awarded the temple to Cambodia in 1962, but Thailand has continued to lay claim to the surrounding land.

• Tension escalated in 2008 after Cambodia attempted to list the Preah Vihear temple as a UNESCO World Heritage site, leading to skirmishes over several years and at least a dozen deaths, including during a weeklong exchange of artillery in 2011.

• Then-Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had called for an immediate, verifiable ceasefire and urged both countries to resolve their dispute through dialogue, not military means.

• In 2013, Cambodia sought interpretation of the 1962 verdict and the ICJ again ruled in its favour, saying the land around the temple was also part of Cambodia and ordering Thai troops to withdraw.

• Thailand has not recognised the ICJ’s rulings on the disputed border and says it wants to settle the matter bilaterally.

What is the situation now?

• It was the second armed confrontation since a Cambodian soldier was shot dead in May this year and a major escalation that came hours after the two countries downgraded diplomatic relations following a land mine explosion that injured Thai soldiers.

• Clashes are ongoing in at least six areas along the border. 

• The first clash happened on June 24 in an area near the ancient Ta Muen Thom temple along the border of Surin and Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province.

• The fighting marks a dramatic escalation in a long-running dispute between the neighbours – both popular destinations for millions of foreign tourists.

• Both sides blamed each other for firing first, while Thailand accused Cambodia of targeting civilian infrastructure.

Manorama Yearbook app is now available on Google Play Store and iOS App Store