Ceasefire Between Cambodia and Thailand

Public reports say the ceasefire took effect at noon local time on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2025, and is open‑ended but with an initial 72‑hour test period. Key terms include:

• An immediate halt to all attacks “in all cases and all areas” with all types of weapons, including against civilians, civilian objects, infrastructure and military targets on either side of the border.
• Both sides must keep current troop deployments in place and avoid any new movements or reinforcements.
• No military use of each other’s airspace and a stop to Thai airstrikes.
• Thailand will repatriate 18 Cambodian soldiers it has held since July once the ceasefire has held for 72 hours.
• Commitments to joint humanitarian demining, to stop using or laying landmines, to refrain from spreading false information or “fake news,” to resume border demarcation talks, and to cooperate against transnational crime (especially online scam operations). The agreement is described as a ceasefire “to end weeks of fighting” rather than a fixed‑term truce, but the 72‑hour window is treated as a proving period to see if it holds.

The ceasefire was announced and formally signed by the two countries’ defense ministers: Cambodia’s Tea Seiha and Thailand’s Natthaphon (Nattaphon) Narkphanit, at a border checkpoint after three days of military talks.

The underlying peace process was influenced by earlier mediation and pressure from Malaysia (as ASEAN chair) and U.S. President Donald Trump, who helped push through the initial July ceasefire and the October peace accord that this agreement reaffirms. ASEAN foreign ministers’ talks in Kuala Lumpur also set the stage for the December truce, but the final announcement came from the Thai and Cambodian defense ministers themselves.

The ceasefire covers all state security forces engaged in the border fighting, not just specific units:

• It explicitly bans “all types of weapons” and attacks on civilians, civilian objects, infrastructure and military objectives of either side “in all cases and all areas,” which in practice binds the national militaries (armies, air forces, and supporting units) on both sides.
• It also requires a halt to Thai airstrikes and other military use of airspace, so air forces are clearly included.
• The broader conflict has involved regular armed forces, border troops, artillery and air units, with no major role reported for independent militias; news accounts and the agreement language treat the fighting as a state‑to‑state military conflict.

No separate carve‑outs or exemptions for militias or irregular forces are mentioned in public reporting.

Available reporting indicates that the United States, including the State Department and the Secretary of State, has supported and welcomed the ceasefire but was not the primary broker of this specific December agreement.

• Earlier in 2025, Malaysia brokered a July ceasefire, which U.S. President Donald Trump strongly pushed by threatening to withhold trade privileges; that peace accord was detailed further in October in Malaysia.
• For the new December ceasefire, news reports say it was negotiated directly between Thai and Cambodian military officials after an ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting, with the defense ministers signing the deal at the border.
• U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly “welcomed” the ceasefire and urged both sides to honor it and the earlier Malaysian peace accord, and the U.N. has thanked Malaysia, China and the United States for efforts to resolve the conflict.

There is no clear public evidence that the State Department or Secretary Rubio personally negotiated the December 27 ceasefire text, beyond diplomatic pressure and public endorsement.

The December ceasefire follows weeks of intense border fighting that grew out of a long‑running territorial dispute and a breakdown of earlier truces.

Key triggers and escalations:

• Cambodia and Thailand have disputed sections of their 817‑km border for over a century, especially areas around temple complexes such as Preah Vihear and other high‑ground near the frontier.
• Tensions rose sharply in mid‑2025 after skirmishes, controversial land‑mine incidents that badly injured Thai soldiers on patrol, and tit‑for‑tat border closures and trade measures, culminating in heavy clashes in July.
• A ceasefire agreed in July and formalized at a meeting in Malaysia in October later collapsed. In early December, new skirmishes and mutual accusations led to a 20‑day border war featuring artillery barrages, rocket fire and Thai airstrikes into Cambodian territory, causing significant casualties and mass displacement on both sides.

This renewed fighting, and the humanitarian and political pressure it created, led directly to the late‑December ceasefire.

Yes. Public accounts say the ceasefire includes monitoring and coordination mechanisms, though not a large outside peacekeeping force:

• Thailand’s defense minister said the truce would be monitored by an observer team from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), alongside direct coordination between the two countries.
• The agreement also calls for direct communication channels at senior level (between the two defense ministers and the armed forces chiefs) to manage incidents.
• Separate diplomatic efforts involve Malaysia (as broker of the earlier peace accords) and China, which is hosting trilateral talks to “consolidate” the ceasefire, but these are political rather than boots‑on‑the‑ground peacekeeping roles.

There is no indication of U.N. blue‑helmet peacekeepers; the monitoring is primarily ASEAN observers plus bilateral military liaison.

The fighting had severe immediate humanitarian consequences, and the ceasefire is intended to ease them:

• Weeks of clashes killed more than 100 people and displaced over half a million to nearly a million civilians on both sides of the border, forcing people into temporary camps, pagodas, schools and other shelters in Thailand and Cambodia.
• Cambodia reports at least 30 civilian deaths and 90 injured; Thai officials report 44 civilian deaths in addition to dozens of soldiers killed.
• Civilians fled artillery and rocket fire and, in Cambodia’s northwest, Thai airstrikes that hit villages and other sites.

Relief and access under the ceasefire:

• The agreement explicitly aims to let displaced families return home, resume farming and send children back to school once security allows.
• It commits both sides to joint humanitarian demining operations to reduce land‑mine risks for returning residents and soldiers.
• The U.N. secretary‑general has welcomed the ceasefire as a step toward “alleviating the suffering of civilians” and said the U.N. stands ready to support efforts to sustain peace and stability, signaling international humanitarian agencies’ involvement as access improves.

Detailed information on specific aid distributions (food, medical services, shelter programs) in the days immediately after the ceasefire is not yet fully available in open sources, but large‑scale displacement and sheltering in temporary camps are well documented.