The new fighting between Thailand and Cambodia is rooted in old enmity

BANGKOK (AP) — A history of enmity between Thailand and Cambodia over competing territorial claims has broken into open combat again, just a few months after the two sides agreed to a ceasefire promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump to end their border fighting.

The two Southeast Asian nations fought in July for five days in and around disputed frontier territory, causing dozens of civilian and military deaths and the evacuation to safety of tens of thousands of villagers on both sides.

On Monday, the heaviest fighting since the ceasefire erupted. While it is unclear who took the first shot, Thailand launched airstrikes along the border as ground combat also broke out.

Thailand and Cambodia have a history of enmity over centuries and experience periodic tensions along their land border of more than 800 kilometers (500 miles).

The competing territorial claims largely stem from a 1907 map created while Cambodia was under French colonial rule, which Thailand contends is inaccurate. Many Thais are still angered by a 1962 ruling by the International Court of Justice, which awarded sovereignty of disputed land to Cambodia — a decision reaffirmed in 2013. The disagreement fueled several armed clashes between 2008 and 2011.

An uneasy peace was reached in late July, when Malaysia pushed for peace talks and President Trump brought the contending sides to the negotiating table by leveraging the importance of the U.S. market for both nations’ exports, threatening to withhold crucial trade privileges.

Trump afterward claimed this intervention as one example among several from around the world where his actions led to peace between warring nations.

The preliminary pact was followed by a more detailed October agreement. Its terms called for coordination of de-mining operations, removal of heavy weapons and equipment from the border, implementation of measures to restore mutual trust, and desisting from harmful rhetoric and the dissemination of false information. None of these actions were implemented in full, if at all.

Both nations continued fighting a bitter propaganda war and there have been occasional minor outbreaks of cross-border violence.

A major Cambodian complaint has been that Thailand continues to hold 18 troops taken prisoner. Thailand accuses Cambodia of laying new land mines in the areas under dispute that maimed Thai soldiers. Cambodia says the mines are left over from decades of civil war that ended in 1999.

The failure to implement the ceasefire terms was used by the Thai side as an excuse not to promptly release the Cambodian prisoners, even though the October agreement urged it to do so “as a demonstration of Thailand’s desire to promote mutual confidence and trust."

Thailand is one of Washington’s closest and most longstanding allies. The country also holds a huge military advantage, best demonstrated by its mostly unchallenged ability to use air power.

But Cambodia has also been trying to strengthen its hand diplomatically. It was among the first countries to strongly support a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for Trump, even bringing out crowds to demonstrate in favor of that.

Cambodia has also employed an intensive propaganda campaign on social media portraying itself as the underdog and issuing frequent unverifiable accusations about Thai actions. Nationalistic saber-rattling has been ubiquitous on both sides.

Washington for its part appears to be trying to actively build better relations with Cambodia to woo it away from its close relationship with China, but that in turn has bred resentment in Thailand.

Cambodia has made further progress toward finalizing a trade deal with Washington than has Thailand, whose economy is much bigger and more complex.

Potential economic consequences go beyond trade.

The renewed fighting comes just as the winter tourism season is hitting its peak, and risks deterring tourists. Tourism is a major earner for both nations, which are still trying to recover from the battering the industry took during the coronavirus pandemic.

The ill feeling between the two neighbors is not just about overlapping border claims, but also deep-seated cultural enmity that has its roots from centuries ago, when they were large and competing empires.

In more modern times, bad feelings have lingered, as Cambodia’s development, hindered by French colonialism and, in the 1970s, the brutal rule of the communist Khmer Rouge, has fallen well behind Thailand.

Both have fought over claims on cultural products ranging from boxing, mask dancing, traditional clothing and food.

In this photo released by Royal Thai Army, a wounded Thai soldier is carried to be transferred to a hospital in Sisaket province, Thailand, Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025, after, according to a Thai army spokesperson, Cambodian troops fired into Thai territory. (Royal Thai Army via AP)

In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), Cambodian Buddhist monks sit on a motor cart as they flee from their pagoda of Preah Vihear province, near the border with Thailand, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AKP via AP)

In this photo released by Agence Kampuchea Press (AKP), Cambodian villagers sit on tractors as they flee from the home in Preah Vihear province, Cambodia, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AKP via AP)

Thai residents who fled homes as Thailand and Cambodia clash over border, rest at an evacuation center in Buriram province, Thailand, Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Sopa Saelee)

VIENNA (AP) — The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said Tuesday Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site sustained “some recent damage” amid a U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign, though there was “no radiological consequence expected” from it.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said the damage was focused on “entrance buildings” to the underground portion of the atomic site.

Natanz earlier came under attack by the U.S. in the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia’s capital with a drone early Tuesday as it kept hitting targets around the region, while the United States and Israel pounded Iran with airstrikes in what U.S. President Donald Trump suggested was just the start of a relentless campaign that could last more than a month.

The attack from two drones on the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh caused a “limited fire” and minor damage, according to Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry, and the embassy urged Americans to avoid the compound. It followed an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait, which announced Tuesday it had been closed until further notice. The U.S. State Department also ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and family in Kuwait, as well as Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates as a precaution.

Across Iran’s capital, explosions rang out throughout the night into the early morning, with witnesses describing hearing aircraft overhead. It was not immediately clear what had been hit. And in Lebanon, Israel launched more strikes on Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia group. Explosions could be heard and smoke seen in a southern suburb of Beirut. Israel also said its soldiers are “operating in southern Lebanon.” Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said the Lebanese army was evacuating some of its positions along the border.

The expansion of Iranian retaliation across the Gulf and the intensity of the Israeli and American attacks, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the lack of any apparent exit plan portend a possibly prolonged conflict with far-reaching consequences.

Iran has hit many countries deemed safe havens in the Mideast in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli strikes. Recent targets include two Amazon data centers in the UAE and a drone impact near another in Bahrain that caused damage, the company said Tuesday. Iran has also hit energy facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and attacked several ships Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes, sending global oil and natural gas prices soaring.

“The Strait of Hormuz is closed," declared Iranian Brig. Gen. Ebrahim Jabbari, an adviser to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, threatening to set fire to any ships attempting to transit. “Don’t come to this region.”

The U.S. State Department urged U.S. citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries due to safety risks, as have many other countries, though with much of the airspace closed many remain stranded.

Trump said operations are likely to last four to five weeks but that he was prepared “to go far longer than that.” He later added that the U.S. had a “virtually unlimited supply” of munitions and pre-positioned “high grade weaponry.”

“Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies,” he wrote on social media.

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said the U.S.-Israeli operation has killed at least 787 people. In Israel, where several locations were hit by Iranian missiles, 11 people were killed. The semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported airstrikes killed 13 Iranian troops in Kerman, 800 kilometers (500 miles) southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran.

Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Hezbollah killed 52 people in Lebanon.

“Military escalation would force more families from their homes and hit civilians hard,” said Amy Pope, director general of the International Organization on Migration, calling for the international community to press for de-escalation. “Millions are already displaced in the region.”

The U.S. military has confirmed six deaths of American service members. All six were Army soldiers in a logistics unit in Kuwait, according to a U.S. official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Three people were killed in the United Arab Emirates, and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the U.S. military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American fighter jets while Iran was attacking it with aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely.

Iranian state TV said strikes caused two explosions early Tuesday at a broadcasting facility in Tehran, but said no one was injured.

Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters that airstrikes targeted the Natanz nuclear enrichment site on Sunday.

“Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie,” he said.

Israel and the U.S. have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which the U.S. bombed in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June. Israel has said it is targeting the “leadership and nuclear infrastructure.”

Trump said the military campaign’s objectives are to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities, wipe out its navy, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensure that it cannot continue to support allied groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which fired missiles at Israel on Monday.

Iran has said it has not enriched uranium since June, though it has maintained its right to do so and says its nuclear program is peaceful.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu maintained, however, that Iran was rebuilding “new sites, new places” underground for making atomic bombs. He offered no evidence to support his claim.

“We had to take the action now and we did,” Netanyahu told Fox News Channel’s Hannity.

Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed limited activity at two nuclear sites in Iran before the war. Analysts said Tehran was likely assessing damage from the 2025 U.S. strikes and possibly salvaging what remained.

The conflict has also spread to Lebanon, where the Iranian-supported militant group Hezbollah fired missiles at Israel on Monday, prompting Israel to retaliate.

At least 52 people have been killed and 154 wounded, Lebanese authorities said.

Israel hit Beirut with more airstrikes early Tuesday, saying it was targeting “Hezbollah command centers and weapons storage facilities.”

Hezbollah also said it launched drones targeting an Israeli air base. The Israeli military said it downed two drones.

An Iranian-linked militant in Iraq has also claimed strikes on U.S. military facilities there. The Israeli military said its troops operating in southern Lebanon were positioned at several points near the border in what it described as a “forward defense posture.”

It said the deployment is part of a broader effort to increase security for residents in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon. It has also beefed up troops and air defenses in the area.

The army said there are no plans to evacuate Israeli residents of border areas.

David Rising in Bangkok, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Hallie Golden in Seattle, and Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami contributed to this report. Becatoros reported from Athens, Greece, and Magdy reported from Cairo.

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A group of men inspects the ruins of a police station struck Monday amid the U.S.–Israeli military campaign in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Smoke rises from Israeli airstrikes in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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A worker instals a billboard on an overpass containing a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed during the ongoing joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Smoke engulfs a street after a strike in Tehran, Iran, Monday, March 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohsen Ganji)