Thai Marines Retake Ban Nong Ri Ridge as Trat Tourism Halves
The shooting has stopped for now along the mangrove-lined border in Trat, but the echoes of artillery still rattle local nerves. Thai marines have removed the Cambodian flag from a cluster of rough bunkers at Ban Nong Ri and replaced it with their own, ending a week-long stand-off that threatened to spiral. While Bangkok hails the operation as a textbook defence of sovereignty, traders in La-em and resort owners on Koh Chang say the fighting has already cost them their busiest month.
Quick takeaways
• Thai Marines retook Ban Nong Ri on 14 December after a pre-dawn push that began 9 December.
• Five Thai soldiers wounded; no civilian deaths confirmed on the Thai side.
• Troops discovered 16 modified anti-personnel mines and a cache of RPG warheads inside the Cambodian position.
• Tourism bookings in Trat have fallen more than 50 % since the first skirmish.
• A Chinese special envoy is expected in Phnom Penh and Bangkok next week to cool tempers.
How the firefight unfolded
A black-painted convoy rolled out of Marine Task Force 2 at 02:45 on 9 December, kicking off what commanders privately nicknamed Operation Trat Counter-Strike. Backed by F-16 air cover, naval infantry moved through rubber groves toward the cluster of shacks locals call Ban Sam Lang—three houses that straddle a contested ridge line. By sunrise drones confirmed a newly built Cambodian forward base bristling with PF-89 anti-tank launchers, so Thai gunners opened with 155 mm artillery. Over the next four days squads leap-frogged through trenches, using micro-UAVs for spotting and thermal scopes at night. The breakthrough came on 14 December when demolition teams breached a reinforced underground bunker, forcing the last Cambodian platoon to pull back across the dry creek that marks the de-facto frontier.
What we know about the opposing forces
Security officials estimate 350 Thai marines faced roughly 280 Cambodian soldiers drawn from the 9th Infantry Brigade. Thai units relied on Elbit Skylark drones, M-60 machine guns, and an aging but effective battery of M-198 howitzers. After the battle, engineers recovered 16 improvised mines, hundreds of Type 69 RPG rounds, and traces of BM-21 multiple-rocket shrapnel believed to have been fired from inside Cambodian territory. Casualty figures remain murky: Thai command confirms five wounded (three still hospitalised), while Phnom Penh has not released numbers, though field medics reported evacuating at least a dozen injured troops.
Why Ban Nong Ri matters
The hamlet sits inside one of 17 overlapping claim zones along a 105 km stretch where colonial-era treaties left the border unmarked. The 2000 Thai–Cambodian land-boundary MOU freezes new construction in disputed plots, yet both sides accuse the other of ignoring it. Control of the low ridge at Ban Nong Ri offers line-of-sight to Route 319, a supply artery linking Cambodia’s Koh Kong to Si Racha’s industrial ports. For Bangkok, letting a foreign flag stay planted there would undermine decades of diplomatic leverage built since the 1904 and 1907 Franco-Siamese treaties. For Phnom Penh, withdrawing too easily could trigger domestic backlash ahead of commune elections.
Human toll and economic ripple
Beyond the sandbags, the clash touched ordinary lives. The Tourism Authority of Thailand reports room bookings down 52 % in Trat and 37 % in Chanthaburi since early December. Farmers in Tambon Chamrak abandoned pepper fields for six days, and 11 schools switched to online classes after stray 81 mm mortar rounds landed in a coconut grove. Hospitals in Saen Tung treated six civilians for shock but no direct shrapnel injuries. Across the border Cambodian media say over 400,000 villagers have left frontier districts, a figure UN agencies could not verify but call "plausible" given previous displacement patterns.
Diplomatic stakes
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin insists Thailand "did not fire first" yet vows to keep troops forward-deployed "until the last bunker is cleared." Phnom Penh’s foreign ministry accuses Bangkok of breaching the UN Charter’s Article 2 on territorial integrity—a charge Thai jurists counter with Article 51’s self-defence clause. Meanwhile, Beijing has dispatched veteran mediator Liu Xiaoming, whose shuttle diplomacy helped defuse the 2023 Mekong dam standoff. ASEAN officials talk up a joint observer mission, but insiders admit the bloc’s consensus rule makes binding action unlikely.
What analysts are watching next
Satellite researcher Nathan Ruser notes that Thai sand-coloured tents now cover "nearly 80 % of the contested knoll," suggesting Bangkok aims to hold ground through the approaching wet season. Defence scholar Dr. Panarat Meechai warns that sporadic firefights could become "the new normal" unless both armies revive the dormant General Border Committee. Business chambers fear a prolonged chill could shave 0.1 pp off national GDP, small yet painful for communities that rely on cross-border trade in cassava and diesel.
What it means for people in Thailand
For residents planning year-end trips, authorities have reopened Highway 318 but advise travellers to carry passports for potential checkpoints. Farmers can return to fields, though military patrols will remain visible. The navy promises to clear any leftover unexploded ordnance by January. In Bangkok, the episode has reignited debate over whether Thailand should ratify the Ottawa Mine Ban Treaty, a move the defence ministry resisted for budgetary reasons. As the Chinese envoy touches down next week, locals in Trat hope the sudden burst of global attention will translate into long-term guarantees that their quiet fishing villages will not again become a battlefield.
Recent skirmishes and new landmines along the Thai-Cambodian border threaten travel, tourism and exports; check latest official safety advice for Sa Kaeo and Si Sa Ket residents.
Thai army engineers widen de-mining near Sa Kaeo after a landmine maimed a Chinese national, amid scrutiny of smuggling routes and Thai-Cambodian diplomacy.
60mm shells from Myanmar hit Mae Sot homes, injure civilians. Thai forces used smoke rounds, boosted security as migration surges disrupt local trade.
Mortar shells from Myanmar’s war struck Mae Sot, Thailand, wounding four migrants and freezing 90-billion-baht border trade. Learn how businesses are coping.
Myanmar’s staged KK Park demolition hasn’t ended Thai border scams; gangs have shifted near Mae Sot, keeping fraud and forced labour alive across the frontier.
A landmine injures a migrant at Thailand’s eastern border, exposing a demining deadlock with Cambodia that leaves villagers and smugglers in peril. Learn how officials and farmers are responding.
Mortar rounds from Myanmar hit Mae Sot, prompting Thai smoke warnings, markets and Thai-Myanmar border trade disrupted—what residents & expats need to know.
Kok River pollution from Myanmar mines is driving tourists from Chiang Rai and threatening residents’ health. Get water data, government response and safety tips.
November floods in southern Thailand caused a 42 % drop in Malaysian arrivals, costing billions of baht. Check recovery timelines, safety advisories and discounted hotel deals today.