Thailand’s military announced on Monday that it has halted fuel shipments passing through a key border checkpoint with Laos, citing intelligence that fuel supplies may have been diverted to Cambodia as fighting along the Thailand–Cambodia border has escalated into one of the most serious clashes in recent years.

The move affects the Chong Mek crossing with Laos, through which Thailand had been exporting fuel supplies that Thai authorities now suspect could be reaching Cambodian forces.

Officials stressed that the decision was not intended to harm Laos or its people, and Laos had not immediately issued a formal response to the Thai measures. 

The suspension of fuel routes occurs against the backdrop of renewed and intense hostilities along the 817-kilometre shared land border, where Thai and Cambodian forces have traded heavy weapons fire, artillery exchanges, airstrikes and rocket attacks.

The conflict has displaced more than half a million people and killed at least thirty-eight civilians and combatants, prompting large-scale evacuations and widespread disruption across multiple provinces on both sides of the frontier. 

Thai defence ministry spokesperson Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri confirmed that the fuel route suspension followed credible information suggesting supplies transiting via Laos were reaching Cambodian front-line units.

Thai naval officials are also considering restrictions on the movement of Thai-registered vessels in Cambodian waters deemed “high-risk,” although international shipments would not be affected by such measures. 

The border clashes mark a dramatic deterioration following a U.S.-brokered truce earlier in the year between Thailand and Cambodia that had temporarily eased tensions.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump intervened in July to help negotiate a ceasefire that halted five days of heavy fighting, but that agreement has since unraveled amid fresh outbreaks of violence.

Diplomatic efforts to convene a regional meeting of foreign ministers to address the crisis were postponed at Thailand’s request, underscoring the deepening rupture in bilateral relations. 

Both Bangkok and Phnom Penh have accused the other of violating the ceasefire and reigniting hostilities, with Thailand demanding that Cambodia first cease its offensive actions before resuming peace talks.

Cambodia, for its part, asserts that it is acting in self-defence against what it describes as Thai military aggression.

As the conflict deepens, Thailand’s suspension of critical fuel routes through Laos reflects a broader effort to limit material support to Cambodian forces while managing the complex geopolitical and humanitarian fallout of a rapidly intensifying border war.