Phnom Penh: Cambodia has closed its airspace over areas currently experiencing armed conflict with Thailand.
The Cambodian State Secretariat of Civil Aviation Saturday instructed airlines to reroute their flights to ensure safety. Simultaneously, a minimum altitude was set for aircraft to avoid potentially dangerous routes.
Longstanding tensions between the Southeast Asian neighbors escalated sharply on Thursday, when clashes erupted along the border.
The Thai military said it had deployed fighter jets to bomb Cambodian positions. Cambodia responded with artillery fire, which hit areas including civilian infrastructure. Both sides accused each other of initiating the latest round of armed conflict.
In a related development, Thailand announced that its naval forces joined the army to repel Cambodian attacks on new areas in the disputed border zone between the two countries, while the death toll from the escalating conflict rose to at least 30.
Thailand’s Ministry of Defense stated that Saturday morning’s naval operations followed Cambodian forces’ incursion into three separate locations in Thailand’s eastern Trat Province.
Cambodia accused Thai forces of expanding their offensive deeper into its territory, targeting non-military sites including schools and residential areas.
The two nations have long been embroiled in a border demarcation dispute spanning 817 kilometers, with the region witnessing repeated incidents due to this disagreement.
On May 28, a limited clash occurred following allegations of a border agreement violation, after which both countries’ armed forces reached a temporary agreement to de-escalate tensions.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet subsequently announced that his country had filed an official request with the International Court of Justice to examine the border disputes with Thailand, in an effort to resolve the crisis through international legal channels.
