Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has marked one year since fighting erupted on the Thai-Cambodian border, saying nearly 30,000 people in Cambodia still cannot return home.
The actress and humanitarian posted her message on Instagram today, July 24, alongside a photo of a young father holding a baby at a displacement camp.
“One year ago, conflict broke out along Cambodia’s border, upending the safety and stability of so many,” she wrote. She said close to 30,000 people remain internally displaced.
Jolie has deep ties to Cambodia. Her eldest son Maddox was born there, and she received Cambodian citizenship in 2005. Her Maddox Foundation has worked with a locally led team on conservation and community development for more than 20 years. Its headquarters sit on the same stretch of border where the fighting took place.
She recalled evacuating foundation staff and their families when the clashes began. The experience, she said, was a painful reminder of how quickly conflict can return. The foundation has since resumed its work, but her thoughts remain with families still stuck in camps.
“I love this country and its resilient, warm people,” she wrote, adding that her heart is with everyone still waiting to go home.
One year on, the border remains closed
Today marks exactly one year since the first clashes broke out on July 24, 2025. Five days of fighting killed dozens on both sides and displaced over 300,000 people before Malaysia, the United States and China brokered a truce.
That truce collapsed in December. Three weeks of renewed fighting with tanks, drones and artillery killed more than 100 people across both countries. Thailand reported around 400,000 people displaced on its side, while Cambodia put its own figure at over 500,000. A new ceasefire took effect on December 27, and each side continues to blame the other for starting the fighting.
The peace remains fragile. Border checkpoints are still closed, with Thailand insisting Cambodia must first comply fully with the December agreement. Sporadic incidents along the frontier have continued to test the truce, and communities on both sides are still living with the fallout a year after the first shots were fired.
Most displaced Thais have returned home, though villages closest to the frontier remain under restrictions in some areas. On the Cambodian side, the 30,000 figure cited by Jolie reflects families whose homes sit in zones still considered unsafe.
The conflict has not touched Thailand’s major tourist destinations. Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket operate normally, though land crossings into Cambodia remain shut. Travellers can find the full picture in The Thaiger’s guide to what the border conflict means for visiting Thailand in 2026.
Jolie closed her post with a message in Khmer, telling Cambodians her heart stays with those still waiting to return to their homes.
The other side of the anniversary: the day rockets hit a Si Sa Ket petrol station
One year ago today, a rocket fired from Cambodia tore through a petrol station in Si Sa Ket. Eight civilians died on the spot, including an 8 year old child. For communities along Thailand’s border, July 24 is not an abstract anniversary. It’s the day the war arrived at a 7-Eleven.
As tributes mark one year since the Thai-Cambodian conflict erupted, including a widely shared post by Angelina Jolie highlighting displaced families in Cambodia, the Thai side of the story deserves equal weight. The first day of fighting brought one of the conflict’s worst atrocities against civilians, and it happened on Thai soil.
Eight dead at a petrol station 20 kilometres from the border
On the morning of July 24, 2025, Cambodian forces fired BM-21 rockets deep into Thai territory. One slammed into a PTT petrol station and its 7-Eleven convenience store in Ban Phue, Kantharalak district, Si Sa Ket, roughly 20 kilometres from the border.
The store was busy. A school van had stopped there for snacks while ferrying children towards a bunker. The rocket set off a fire that engulfed the building. Eight people died at the scene, including a child, and 15 others were injured. Recovery teams could not even reach the bodies for hours because a second unexploded rocket sat lodged inside the store.
The Thai government called the attack inhumane and urged international condemnation. A week later, residents returned to the scorched forecourt carrying flowers for a memorial, placing them beside walls still scarred by the blast.
Rockets across five locations, and a hospital in the crosshairs
The petrol station was not an isolated strike. Thai authorities recorded rocket and artillery fire across roughly five civilian areas on that first day. Two BM-21 rockets hit a residential area in Kap Choeng district, Surin, killing and wounding villagers, including a 12 year old boy among the injured. More rockets landed in Ban Kruat district, Buri Ram, and villages in Phanom Dong Rak district, Surin.
Then there was the hospital. Cambodian artillery struck Phanom Dong Rak Hospital, which staff had evacuated hours earlier as fighting began at the nearby Ta Muean Thom temple. Bomb disposal teams later confirmed three impact sites on hospital grounds, among 140 BM-21 rockets that landed in the district over five days of fighting.
The hospital was not spared in the second round either. When fighting reignited in December 2025, another rocket landed near the same hospital, forcing patients and medical staff into a bunker.
Both sides carry scars
The Thai army says the clashes began when Cambodian troops opened fire near Ta Muean Thom temple, days after landmine blasts wounded Thai soldiers on patrol. Cambodia disputes this account and blames Thailand for the escalation. What is not in dispute is the human cost. At least 12 people died on the first day alone, and the two rounds of fighting eventually killed more than 100 people and displaced hundreds of thousands on both sides of the border.
One year on, Thai border villages are rebuilding, and most evacuees have returned home. But border checkpoints remain closed, the December ceasefire stays fragile, and families in Si Sa Ket and Surin live with air raid drills and bunkers as part of daily life.
Remembering the displaced on one side of the border should never mean forgetting the dead on the other. For people in Kantharalak, the anniversary needs no Instagram post. The petrol station is still there, and so is the memory.
Travellers heading to the region can check The Thaiger’s guide on what the border conflict means for visiting Thailand in 2026.
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