Royal Thai Navy Shells Cambodian Positions

 

A ceasefire agreed between Cambodia and Thailand in August has broken down, with border skirmishes taking place in the area of the Preah Vihear temple complex in Si Sa Ket Province. This follows several weeks when Thai soldiers have been injured and killed by freshly-laid mines of recent Russian manufacture in Thai territory. Civilians have been evacuated from both sides of the border.

Further to the south in Thailand's Trat province, the Royal Thai Navy has again been in action, defending a narrow coastal strip of Thai territory. The Khong Yai coastal strip is approximately 30 miles long, but in many places Thai territory between the border and the sea is less than a mile in width. Thai Navy Krabi Class patrol vessels have shelled Cambodian positions at Koh Yor which had been firing on the Thai settlement of Ban Hat Lek at the very southern tip of this coastal strip. Use of its naval vessels is a necessity in defending this area because of the lack of depth to the Royal Thai Marines forward positions on the border.

The area of the Khong Yai coastal strip where Royal Thai Navy patrol boats have been shelling Khmer positions (Google Earth/Landsat/CJRC)

Exchanges of fire in this coastal area pose a threat to civilian maritime traffic in the Gulf of Thailand using Port Sihanouk, which is Cambodia's principal port. Should the Thai Navy wish to impose a maritime blockade, to complement a blockade being imposed on the import of fuel into Cambodia across land borders, then the Chinese People's Liberation Army may find access to their naval base at Ream impeded.