23/07/2026
π Remembering 24 July 2025: The Beginning of the Thai Militaryβs Armed Aggression Against Cambodia
Beginning on 24 July 2025, during its armed aggression against Cambodian territory, the Thai military deployed military force and heavy weaponry, including F-16 fighter jets, to attack Cambodia and drop bombs on various locations inside Cambodian territory. These attacks posed grave threats to civilian lives, infrastructure, and civilian property.
One MK-84 bomb, dropped by the Royal Thai Air Force on a civilian home in Oddar Meanchey Province but which failed to detonate, stands as clear evidence of the use of a highly destructive weapon in an area inhabited by civilians.
This bomb is not merely a remnant of an attack. It is a silent witness to aggression, evidence of the violation of Cambodiaβs sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a stark demonstration of disregard for the safety, lives, and property of innocent civilians.
The use of fighter aircraft and heavy bombs in civilian areas is an act that must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. Such conduct is contrary to the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, which require parties to a conflict to distinguish clearly between military objectives and civilians, take all feasible precautions, and avoid attacks that may cause excessive harm to the civilian population.
The unexploded MK-84 bomb has become a piece of historical evidence that cannot be erased or distorted. It reminds the world that Cambodia was the victim of armed aggression by the Thai military, not the instigator of war. Cambodian civilians were exposed to weapons of immense destructive power as Thai forces launched attacks, fired various types of munitions, and deployed aircraft to drop bombs indiscriminately.
Therefore, 24 July 2025 is not an ordinary date. It is a day that must be rememberedβto honour the sacrifices of Cambodiaβs heroic soldiers, heroic border police officers, national defence forces, and civilian population, and to preserve the truth of history against distortion.
Commemorating this day also reaffirms a fundamental truth: military force, fighter jets, bombs, barbed-wire barriers, or attempts to create facts on the ground cannot alter legally established boundaries, cannot create sovereign rights over the territory of another State, and cannot erase the reality of aggression.
