If you’re planning a trip to Thailand in the coming weeks, it’s important to reconsider your destination, especially if your plans involve areas near the Cambodian border.
The reason behind this is the fights between Thailand and Cambodia that have broken out along their mutual border, specifically over the disputed Emerald Triangle zone where the three nations' borders meet.
The otherwise picturesque vacation scene has recently turned into a war zone: the two nations fired heavy artillery, rocket salvoes, and even air-borne bombing after an old-standing border dispute boiled over again.
Official reports indicate that, on July 24 and 25, violence increased due to the aerial attacks by Thailand by F-16 aircraft where Cambodia replied using rockets and shells. The civilians have not been spared in the crossfire as one civilian has been killed and other people have been injured. Of them one was a child due to attacks along the border provinces. The fighting has focused on regions along the old and historically important temples of Thailand's Surin province and Cambodia's Oddar Meanchey province.
Thousands of villagers along both sides of the border have been evacuated. Martial law has been imposed in some of Thailand's Chanthaburi and Trat provinces, and the Thai embassy in Phnom Penh has formally ordered its citizens to depart Cambodia unless absolutely necessary. Regular border crossings have been closed down, and new landmines have resulted in further fatalities.
The violence has produced travel advisories calling for tourists to steer clear of the entire border region between Cambodia and Thailand, particularly along Surin, Ubon Ratchathani, Trat, and Chanthaburi in Thailand and their neighboring regions in Cambodia. Currently, stray rocket fire and tumultuous troop maneuvers are serious risks far in excess of what normal travel insurance will cover for.
Domestic politics have fueled the fire as well, with both nations expelling the other's diplomats and accusing each other of initiating the violence, which first erupted after reconnaissance drones and landmine attacks raised suspicion and tensions. Diplomatic efforts have been fruitless so far despite foreign mediation offers.
If you have to go to Thailand, attempt to avoid the eastern provinces along the Cambodian border and keep an ear to the ground for the most recent reports.