Tensions along Cambodia's northern border with Thailand have been simmering since May, when a Cambodian soldier was killed in a clash with Thai forces.

Fighting along the Thailand-Cambodia border has escalated, resulting in numerous casualties and mass displacement. China attributes the conflict's roots to historical Western colonialism, offering to mediate.

Bangkok and Phnom Penh have been fighting over territory disputed since colonial power France drew the border between them more than a century ago.

"The U.S. already flunked the test and that should be a wakeup call," a former senior U.S. State Department official told Newsweek.

The latest flare-up started on Thursday, with intense fighting spreading across multiple border areas. Early Saturday, Thailand’s navy joined the army in repelling what it described as incursions by Cambodian troops at three points in eastern Trat province.

Photo: VCG The recent outbreak of conflict along the Cambodia-Thailand border, resulting in casualties, is deeply distressing and concerning. The root of this issue lies in the legacy left by Western colonial powers,

Of course, trouble at the 508-mile (817 km) shared border is nothing new. For over a century, Thailand and Cambodia have contested sovereignty at various undemarcated points in the thick jungle punctuated with culturally-significant temples albeit with scant strategic or economic value.

Long-running tensions have spilled over into heavy exchanges of fire in the disputed border region between Thailand and Cambodia.

Thailand and Cambodia exchanged heavy artillery fire for a second day on Friday as their worst fighting in over a decade intensified and spread to new areas.

From Trump’s tariff-fueled ceasefire push in Southeast Asia to political deadlock in Taiwan, a deadly courthouse siege in Iran, and the massacre of Christians in Nigeria’s Plateau State, the world feels like it’s teetering on a knife’s edge—and the blade’s getting sharper.