Once again, the thunder of artillery and the screech of rockets echo along the Thai-Cambodian border.
For the second time in five months, villages along a hundreds-kilometer corridor lie abandoned, their residents sheltering on mats in temporary shelters, their lives suspended between flight and return.
This resurgence of violence comes just months after a July ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump.
It was ignited by a seemingly minor clash on Sunday, when—according to the Thai military—Cambodian troops fired on a Thai engineering team working on an access road in a disputed border zone, wounding two soldiers.
In years past, such an incident might have been resolved by swift diplomacy. But that goodwill has vanished, replaced by a deep and widening gulf of mistrust—one that even Trump’s deal-making prowess could not bridge.
By James Kisoo
