Thailand and Cambodia ​agreed on Saturday (December 27, 2025) to halt ‌weeks of fierce ​border clashes, the worst fighting in years between the Southeast Asian countries that has included fighter jets sorties, exchange of rocket fire and artillery barrages.

“Both sides ​agree to maintain current ⁠troop deployments without further movement,” their Defence Ministers said in a joint statement ​on the ceasefire, ⁠to take effect at noon (0500 GMT).

“Any reinforcement would heighten tensions and negatively affect long-term efforts ‌to resolve the situation,” ‌according to the statement released on social media by ‍Cambodia’s Defence Ministry.

The agreement, signed by Thai Defence Minister Natthaphon Nakrphanit ‍and his Cambodian counterpart Tea Seiha, ended 20 days of fighting that has killed at least 101 people and displaced more than half a million on both sides.

The clashes ⁠were re-ignited in early December after a breakdown in ​a ceasefire that U.S. President ⁠Donald Trump had helped broker to halt a previous round of fighting in July.

India on Wednesday (December 24, 2025) voiced concern over the demolition of a statue of a Hindu deity in the ongoing military conflict between Thailand and Cambodia.

New Delhi said such “disrespectful” acts hurt sentiments of followers around the world, even as it urged both Thailand and Cambodia to resolve their border dispute through dialogue and diplomacy.

“We have seen reports on the demolition of a statue of a Hindu religious deity, built in recent times, and located in an area affected by the ongoing Thai-Cambodia border dispute,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

“Hindu and Buddhist deities are deeply revered and worshipped by people across the region, as part of our shared civilizational heritage,” he said.

Mr. Jaiswal was responding to a media query on the issue.

“Notwithstanding territorial claims, such disrespectful acts hurt the sentiments of followers around the world, and should not take place,” he said.

“We once again urge the two sides to return to dialogue and diplomacy, to resume peace and avoid any further loss of lives, and damage to property and heritage,” Mr. Jaiswal added.

The border clashes between the two Southeast Asian countries erupted in July.

Both countries agreed on a ceasefire in July that was brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump. The fight broke out again this month.

Thailand’s government said a rocket attack from Cambodia on Sunday (December 14, 2025) killed a 63-year-old villager, its first civilian death reported as a direct result of combat over the past week along the border of the two Southeast Asian Nations.

Both countries confirmed that large-scale fighting, which was set off by a skirmish on Sunday (December 7) that wounded two Thai soldiers, continued. The two sides are battling over longstanding competing claims to patches of frontier land, some of which contain centuries-old temple ruins.

More than two dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in the past week’s fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced.

Reporters from The Associated Press arrived at the scene of Sunday’s (December 14) rocket impact in Sisaket province’s Kantharalak District about 10 minutes after it hit. They witnessed the body of a man totally wrapped in bandages being put on a stretcher that was taken to an ambulance.

A house a couple of hundred metres away was in flames, with village volunteers attempting to put out the fire with buckets of water. A piece of shrapnel believed to be from the same rocket was embedded nearby in the road.

The victim, identified as Don Patchapan, was killed in the heart of a residential area near a school, according to a Thai Army statement. Thai Government Spokesperson Siripong Angkasakulkiat condemned Cambodia for deliberately firing into civilian areas, saying that such an action was “cruel and inhumane”.

Cambodia has deployed truck-mounted BM-21 rocket launchers with a range of 30-40 km. Each can fire up to 40 rockets at a time, but cannot be precisely targeted. They have landed largely in areas from which most people have already been evacuated.

Thai authorities say Cambodia has launched thousands of the rockets on virtually a daily basis.

Thailand, meanwhile, has been carrying out airstrikes with its fighter planes, with Cambodia saying the bombing continued on Sunday (December, 14). Both sides have employed drones for surveillance and delivering bombs.

The Thai military has acknowledged that 15 of its troops have died during the fighting, and estimated that there have been at least 221 fatalities among Cambodian soldiers.

Cambodia denounced the Thai count of its dead as disinformation but has not yet acknowledged any military casualties. It has said at least 11 civilians have been killed and more than six dozen wounded.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet delivered a morale-boosting message to his countrymen on Sunday (December 14), writing on social media that he is proud to see this Nation’s strength “in this situation where our country is facing difficulties due to aggression from neighbouring countries”.

The new fighting derailed a ceasefire promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July. It had been brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Mr. Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed.

It was formalised in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Mr. Trump attended.

Mr. Trump announced this past Friday (December 12) that the two countries had agreed at his urging to renew the ceasefire, but Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul denied making any commitment, and Cambodia announced it was continuing to fight in what it said is self-defense.

A Thai Navy warship in the Gulf of Thailand joined the fighting on Saturday (December 13) morning, trading fire with guns based in Cambodia’s Southwestern Province of Koh Kong. Each side blamed the other for initiating the exchange on a new front.

Thailand’s caretaker Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Friday (December 12, 2025) that he was scheduled to speak to U.S. President Donald Trump late in the day, as border clashes between Cambodia and Thailand continued for a fifth day. Mr. Anutin told reporters that the call with Mr. Trump would take place about 2.20 p.m.

Also Read:Why are Thailand and Cambodia fighting over a Hindu temple?

Mr. Trump is keen to intervene again to stop the fighting and salvage a ceasefire he brokered earlier this year, pledging for a third day to make calls to the leaders of both countries to try to stop the fighting.

At the Congressional Ball late on Thursday (December 11, 2025), Mr. Trump burnished his credentials as a global peace-maker and expressed confidence he would get the truce “back on track”. “We’ve solved eight wars. Think of it. Eight wars have been solved, although Thailand and Cambodia, I think we are going to have to make a couple of phone calls on Thailand and Cambodia, but we’ll get that one back on track,” he said.

The militaries of Thailand and Cambodia have been fighting at multiple locations along their 817 k.m. border in some of the most intense fighting since a five-day battle in July 2025, which Mr. Trump stopped with calls to both leaders to halt their worst conflict in recent history.

At least 20 people have been killed and more than 200 wounded, with hundreds of thousands of people displaced by days-long exchanges of heavy artillery and rocket fire.

The leaders of Thailand and Cambodia signed an enhanced ceasefire deal on Sunday (October 26, 2025) in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump, who intervened in July to bring an end to their deadly five-day border conflict.

The agreement was signed soon after Mr. Trump’s arrival at a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Kuala Lumpur.

It builds on a truce reached three months ago after Mr. Trump called the then leaders of the two countries and urged them to end hostilities or risk putting their respective trade talks with Washington on hold.

Trump signs economic agreements with Thailand, Cambodia

Mr. Trump also on Sunday (October 26, 2025) signed an agreement with Cambodia on reciprocal trade and a U.S. deal with Thailand on critical minerals during a regional summit.

A White House official said Mr. Trump would also sign a critical minerals agreement with Malaysia during the ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur.

The deals were signed after a ceremony with the countries’ leaders on an expanded ceasefire agreement between Thailand and Cambodia.