Thailand-Cambodia conflict June 2025 - NEWS AND DISCUSSION ONLY.

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starviking said:
The consequences of striking civilian petrol stations as one of your first acts of the conflict.
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I won't pretend I understand what's going on there, but strikes against petrol stations, together with masses of armor crossing into Cambodia within hours from the opening of hostilities makes it sound somewhat questionable who began this whole affair.

Petrol infrastructure doesn't exist in vacuum, military runs on gas, too.
 
Ainen said:
Petrol infrastructure doesn't exist in vacuum, military runs on gas, too.
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The station was crowded with schoolchildren and civvies moments before the rocket land.
The Thai armour push was one whole day later.
The Cambodian troops position their Grads within crowded slumps.

What the Thai troop has done sofar shows absurd restraints in view of the violence the Cambodian troops inflicted upon them.
 
yeetmahboi said:
The station was crowded with schoolchildren and civvies moments before the rocket land.
The Thai armour push was one whole day later.
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From the point of view of law of armed conflict, it can be crowded with anyone.
In this position and circumstances, it's a critical military infrastructure.

Iirc news of Thai armor Crossing into Cambodia came together with grad strikes. If this is true, having children there was a rather cynical miscooreination.
 
Ainen said:
From the point of view of law of armed conflict, it can be crowded with anyone.
In this position and circumstances, it's a critical military infrastructure.

Iirc news of Thai armor Crossing into Cambodia came together with grad strikes. If this is true, having children there was a rather cynical miscooreination.
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Except there was no declaration of war, just mines planted on the Thai side, and then no-warning strikes on civilians.
 
yeetmahboi said:
The station was crowded with schoolchildren and civvies moments before the rocket land.
The Thai armour push was one whole day later.
The Cambodian troops position their Grads within crowded slumps.

What the Thai troop has done sofar shows absurd restraints in view of the violence the Cambodian troops inflicted upon them.
Click to expand...

As much as horrible it is and everything...
We're talking about a military conflict.

It's horrible yes, but tactically speaking, it's, unfortunately, necessary.
 
starviking said:
no declaration of war
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Is it me or the last conflicts aren't technically war yet. Even in Ukraine (both sides). Honestly all these declaration thing can go away, a conflict between two militaries backed by the government is a war at this point.
 
Thai tanks are positioned at the Thai-Cambodian near Poipet. Pointing towards the border market.

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Thai M60A3’s have started to mass directly at the Sa Kaeo border and gate at this time.

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Do they look to occupy Cambodian territory?
 
ComradeVortex said:
Thai M60A3’s have started to mass directly at the Sa Kaeo border and gate at this time.

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Do they look to occupy Cambodian territory?
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At this moment, heavy Thai military equipment is massing near border crossings with Cambodia, as preparations for a large-scale invasion are underway.

Last night and this morning, Thai special operations forces and airpower managed to seize key high ground in border areas, establishing footholds for major mechanized offensives.

Notably, yesterday, the Thai Prime Minister rejected Malaysia’s peace proposal, stating that “now is the time to show strength.”

The Cambodian Army is attempting to resist and has no intention of surrendering. However, due to Thailand's overwhelming advantage in manpower and equipment, Cambodia is currently unable to mount effective resistance — major and bloody battles are likely ahead.
 
Thai forces have taken full control of Phu Makuea summit, a disputed Thai-Cambodian border area. Troops advanced 300m past Cambodian lines near Preah Vihear and are now approaching Ta Thav village.
 
ComradeVortex said:
As much as horrible it is and everything...
We're talking about a military conflict.

It's horrible yes, but tactically speaking, it's, unfortunately, necessary.
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I don’t know who you are backing in this conflict - and I don’t care.

Petrol stations may be legitimate targets IN a military conflict.

But Thailand was not IN a military conflict. The attack on the petrol station STARTED the conflict.

Also, there was no attempt to determine potential civilian exposure to the attack - which is criminal.
 
starviking said:
The attack on the petrol station STARTED the conflict.
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It was on border zones, not on the petrol station. The one on the petrol station was after F-16 started bombing.


starviking said:
I don’t know who you are backing in this conflict - and I don’t care.
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I'm neutral - but do I love the RCA T-55s
 
Let's not drag this into a discussion of morality and who's got the better stick.
But let's also not pretend that what the Cambodian troops has done so far undoubtedly mirrors terrorist states across the globe.

There's no incentive for the Thai force to stop now. They have overmatch on every quantifiable material aspects, has far better Chinese and Western backing and their people are begging for blood.
 
This whole thing starts with Hun Sen (apparently) provoking a diplomatic spat with Bangkok, and then releasing a call with Thaksin which makes her look bad.

Then the Thai Army decides to act, removing Thaksin and conducting maneuvers, citing Thai troops tripping on mines reportedly intentionally laid by the Cambodians.

Now the Thai Army is conducting large scale operations in response to Cambodian artillery fire.

But the Thai Army is much bigger and more well equipped than the Cambodian Army, and everyone knows it. The Cambodians have no incentive to escalate militarily, because they are bound to lose any major war. Even at the present time, in a pretty bad information environment, it seems quite clear that the Royal Thai Army is dictating the pace of events.

There seem to be only a limited family of possibilities
- Hun Sen is an idiot / Phnom Penh is entirely composed of idiots, who have no sense and charged headlong into a lost war out of unbridled enthusiasm
- Hun Sen made a diplomatic misstep / overplayed his hand while hoping for greater leverage over Bangkok, and the Thai Army seized on the opportunity to teach Pnom Penh a lesson while making themselves look good and getting rid of a Thaksin dynasty girl
- Conspiracy theory territory - Hun Sen did not make a misstep and someone hacked his Facebook but he hasn't gone public with this (highly improbable, they'd be screaming this to the rooftops if it were true).

It is not entirely certain where Washington and Beijing stand on all this, but just based on the military equipment it seems more likely than not that Washington has a chip on the Royal Thai Army. Given Beijing's close economic and political ties with both Bangkok and Phnom Penh, it is difficult for Beijing to choose among them; alienating either would be an unmitigated disaster that would throw Beijing's entire SEA posture (i.e. keeping ASEAN neutralized/economically pliant) into jeopardy, while remaining completely neutral leaves Beijing exposed to events outside its control that may not be in its favor and gives other parties more options.

It has been said that ASEAN nations do not wish to have to choose between Washington and Beijing; as it turns out, it is also difficult for Beijing to choose between ASEAN nations. A trial, if you will, for vague concepts of "soft" regional hegemony reportedly based solely on economic power with professed principles of non-interference.
 
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