Thailand imposes coastal curfew as Cambodia shuts border and ceasefire claims unravel

Thailand imposed a 6 p.m.–6 a.m. curfew across five southeastern districts of Trat province on Sunday as fighting with Cambodia spread to coastal areas adjacent to Koh Kong, marking the first time hostilities have reached the Gulf of Thailand since the border conflict reignited in early December. The measure, covering roughly 200,000 residents but exempting tourist islands Koh Chang and Koh Kood, formalized what locals already knew: the war has reached Thailand's coast. Hours later Cambodia's Interior Ministry ordered the closure of all border crossings with Thailand "effective immediately," halting commerce and compounding a humanitarian crisis that has displaced hundreds of thousands.

The curfew and closures expose a widening credibility gap between external ceasefire claims and battlefield realities. On Friday, U.S. President Donald Trump publicly announced a new truce after calls with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian leader Hun Manet, yet Thai officials flatly denied any halt. "Our actions this morning already spoke," Anutin told reporters, referring to continued F-16 strikes on Cambodian artillery positions. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, as ASEAN Chair, proposed an ASEAN observer team backed by U.S. satellite monitoring to verify compliance of a ceasefire, with the team to be led by Malaysia's Chief of Defence Forces. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet welcomed the initiative, but Thai Prime Minister Anutin stressed that any commitment would require proper discussions and a clear, sincere Cambodian stance on ending clashes. This mismatch—diplomatic announcements without verified mechanisms—has allowed both sides to intensify operations while disputing facts.

Coastal escalation and bridge destruction

Trat's curfew followed Thai naval and air operations targeting Cambodian military infrastructure in Koh Kong province. Thai forces reported destroying a bridge used to move heavy weapons and striking pre-positioned artillery sites, with naval artillery fire from a vessel in the Gulf complementing F-16 sorties. Cambodia accused Thailand of hitting civilian infrastructure, including bridges and buildings, deepening competing narratives about proportionality and lawful targets. The coastal expansion represents a strategic shift: while earlier fighting concentrated around inland temple flashpoints at Preah Vihear and Ta Muen Thom, Thailand now appears intent on degrading Cambodian logistics across multiple axes.

The timeline of escalation underscores rapid momentum. A December 7 skirmish reignited the conflict; by December 8 Thai ground forces and F-16s were operating at multiple locations inside Cambodia. December 10 saw the Royal Thai Army launch Operation Sattawat, seizing several northern Cambodian localities and issuing a ceasefire ultimatum that Phnom Penh ignored. Thai airstrikes hit Cambodia as border clashes escalate, with both sides exchanging heavy weapons fire including Cambodian BM-21 rocket artillery that Thai authorities say injured civilians in Sisaket province. Trump's December 13 ceasefire claim—promptly rejected by Bangkok—did nothing to slow the tempo. By Sunday, fighting had spread to the coast and border trade had stopped entirely.

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Humanitarian and economic footprint widens

With crossings sealed and curfews in place, the humanitarian footprint is widening faster than the diplomacy to contain it. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced across both countries, and provisional reporting indicates about two dozen killed in the past week's fighting, though casualty tallies remain contested and incomplete. Schools and hospitals in border provinces have closed; residents in Trat's curfew zone face nightly restrictions on movement, and traders who depend on cross-border flows have seen commerce halt. The economic interdependencies that normally incentivize restraint—border markets, labor migration, tourism spillover—are now suspended, removing one brake on escalation.

The 817-kilometer border has long mixed unresolved sovereignty claims with dense people-to-people ties. The International Court of Justice in 1962 awarded the Preah Vihear temple precinct to Cambodia but left surrounding territory in legal limbo, creating flashpoints that periodic ceasefires manage rather than resolve. Each resumption of fighting frays the social and economic fabric that ceasefires aim to restore, compounding the difficulty of any durable settlement.

Outlook: diplomacy behind the battlefield

Thailand's coastal curfew and Cambodia's border closure signal that both governments are preparing populations for prolonged disruption rather than imminent de-escalation. Malaysia's observer proposal and U.S. satellite support offer a framework, but implementation depends on Bangkok and Phnom Penh accepting constraints on their own operations and narratives—a step neither has taken. Until shared rules for verification, incident attribution, and weapons pullback are in place, external ceasefire announcements will continue to lag behind battlefield realities, and civilian communities will bear the cost of that gap.