10/12/2025

WEDNESDAY | DEC 10, 2025

7

Thai-Cambodia clashes escalate

o More than 140,000 civilians flee violence

Cambodians,” Poan Hay said. She is sheltering at a pagoda with relatives about 70km from the border in Siem Reap province’s Srei Snam. “For the last five months, I couldn’t sleep a lot. I was worried about our safety,” she said. “Yesterday Thai jets flew along the border. I was so scared.” Phnom Penh accused Thai forces of shelling positions overnight, which killed two people travelling on a national road. Seven Cambodian civilians have been killed in total and about 20 wounded this week, Cambodia’s Interior Ministry said in a statement. More than 21,000 people have been displaced from three border provinces, the ministry said. The Defence Ministry said the Thai army had resumed attacks around 5am yesterday in border regions, including in the area of centuries-old temples, such as the Unesco world heritage site, the Preah Vihear temple. The Thai army said three soldiers have been killed since Monday. One was killed yesterday by indirect fire in Surin province while a grenade killed another soldier in the area of the Preah Vihear temple. Nearly 500 temporary shelters have been established across several border provinces, housing more than 125,000 civilian evacuees, according to a government statement. Thai navy spokesperson Parat Rattanachaiphan said in a press

SREI SNAM: Fighting between Thailand and Cambodia spread yesterday to new parts of their contested border as the toll rose to 10 killed and more than 140,000 civilians fled the violence. The two countries have blamed each other for the renewed clashes over their century-old border dispute, which saw Thailand launch airstrikes and use tanks against its neighbour on Monday. Cambodia’s influential former leader Hun Sen said his country had retaliated against Thailand, after Phnom Penh denied firing back for two days. This week’s clashes are the most deadly since the neighbours engaged in five days of intense combat in July that killed dozens of people and displaced around 300,000 before a truce took effect. Tens of thousands of people have evacuated from border regions since the fresh fighting began on Sunday, officials said. Cambodian Poan Hay, 55, said she left her home in Oddar Meanchey province on Monday as soon as she heard gunfire – the fourth time she evacuated this year due to on-and-off fighting on the frontier. “I am so angry at the Thai army, but I ask them to stop firing at

Displaced Thais queueing for food at a shelter in Buriram province yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

yesterday his country had retaliated after remaining “patient for more than 24 hours in order to respect the ceasefire and for time to evacuate people to safety”. “Now we fight in order to defend ourselves again,” he said. – AFP

unmanned drones to provoke Thai forces. Early yesterday, he said Thai forces “launched a military operation to drive them out”. Cambodia’s Senate president and former prime minister, Hun Sen, said

conference that Thai forces recently detected Cambodian troops, settlements and several weapon bases in a disputed coastal area of Trat province. Parat accused Cambodia of escalating tensions by deploying

Orangutans flee Sumatra floods SIPIROK: Before the deadly landslides and floods hit Indonesia about two weeks ago, Amran Siagian, 39, frequently met Tapanuli orangutans on a hill in Sipirok, North Sumatra. Siagian, who has been working as a ranger to protect the endangered animal at the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) for five years, remembers how the orangutans were fond of eating durian and other fruits from farms. But after the landslides hit Sipirok, the orangutans are nowhere to be seen. The cyclone-induced floods and landslides have killed 962 people as of yesterday, with 291 listed as missing. “They must have moved away. I can no longer hear their voices,” Siagian said. Local leaders and green groups said deforestation linked to mining and logging aggravated the impact of the floods and landslides. In Sipirok, a village in the region of South Tapanuli, which was among the hardest hit by the disaster, large trees appear to have been cut down. Siagian said a company had been logging in the area for at least a year. The deforestation had affected the orangutans even before the floods, he said. “The orangutans live by moving between forest canopy, from branch to branch. If the forest is sparse, it must be difficult for them,” Siagian said. OIC founder Panud Hadisiswoyo said there were about 760 orangutans living in Tapanuli. “The major threat is the loss of forest due to plantations and extractive industry,” he said. Around 119,000 orangutans live in Indonesia and Malaysia, according to World Wildlife Fund. “If there is no government help, the orangutans could go extinct here. Especially with this massive deforestation,” Siagian said. – Reuters

Asiatic lions roar back at Gir National Park GIR NATIONAL PARK: A powerful roar rocked the forest before the silhouette of a lioness appeared at an Indian reserve, a potent image of how conservation efforts have brought the creatures back from the brink. The Asiatic lion, slightly smaller than their African cousins, and identified by a fold of skin along its belly, historically roamed from the Middle East to India.

give them prey, then they do extremely well,” said Andrew Loveridge, from global wild cat conservation organisation Panthera. In 2008, they were removed from the IUCN Red List of species threatened with extinction, and moved to the category of merely “endangered”. Unlike in Africa, poaching is virtually absent. “The local people support the conservation of Asian lions,” Nala said, reporting zero cases of poaching for more than a decade. “These are our lions,” his deputy Prashant Tomas said. “People are possessive about them.” Local communities fiercely protect the lions for cultural, religious and economic reasons, because they attract tourists. Loveridge said that people accepted some livestock would be lost. “In general, they’re less likely to kill the lions in retaliation for livestock losses, which is something that is prevalent in many sites in Africa,” he said. “Indian wildlife managers have managed to contain that conflict, to a large degree – in many ways, that’s their secret to success.” But rising numbers mean lions now roam far beyond the park. About half the lion population ranges across 30,000 sq km, and livestock killings have soared, from 2,605 in 2019-20 to 4,385 in 2023-24. There are no official figures on attacks on humans, though experts estimate there are around 25 annually. Occasionally, an attack hits the headlines, such as in August, when a lion killed a five-year-old child. And, despite their increasing population, the species remains vulnerable due to limited genetic diversity and concentration in one region. Venkatraman described the lions as a “flagship of conservation”. “That means because you save them, you also save the biodiversity around.” – AFP

By the early 20th century, only about 20 remained, nearly wiped out by hunting and habitat loss. “They’ve been resurrected from the brink of extinction,” said wildlife biologist Meena Venkatraman. After India broke free from British rule in 1947, a prince offered “his” lions sanctuary. In recent decades, the authorities have invested heavily by protecting vegetation, securing wells and roads, and even building a hospital. “The thing about lions is that if you give them space, and you protect them and you

In Gir National Park, Asiatic lions reign over a 1,900 sq km expanse of savannah and acacia and teak forests, their last refuge. Gir’s success stems from more than three decades of rigorous conservation to expand the lions’ range, which now raises questions about the future of coexistence with humans. Park chief Ramratan Nala celebrates the “huge success”: lion numbers have risen by a third in five years, from 627 to 891. “It’s a matter of pride for us,” Nala said, the head of government forests in Junagadh district of the western state of Gujarat.

A lioness resting after a kill in Gir National Park . – AFPPIC