Old military exercise photo misrepresented as Thailand-Cambodia clashes

Published on July 28, 2025 at 11:11
2 min read
By Nattakorn PLODDEE, AFP Thailand

A long-standing territorial dispute between Southeast Asian neighbours Thailand and Cambodia erupted into conflict with jets, tanks, and ground troops battling in a rural border region in July 2025. But an image of aircraft supposedly from the fighting was in fact shared by the Thai Royal Air Force weeks earlier in a post about a joint air drill with Indonesia.

"Thailand launches AIR STRIKES on Cambodian military targets," reads a post shared July 25, 2025 on X that features the photo.

Screenshot of the false post captured July 28, 2025, with a red 'X' added by AFP

Similar posts also ricocheted on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube as the bloodiest military clashes in more than a decade erupted between Thailand and Cambodia (archived link).

At least 35 people have been killed and more than 200,000 displaced since the dramatic escalation in hostilities between the neighbouring countries over their jungle-clad frontier, which is home to a smattering of contested ancient temples.

Both sides began discussing a ceasefire on July 28 at the residence of Malaysian leader Anwar Ibrahim, serving chair of the ASEAN bloc of which Thailand and Cambodia are members.

However, a reverse image search of keyframes on Google traced the picture to a Facebook post from the Thai Royal Air Force on June 16, 2025, weeks before fighting started (archived link).

"Images of the collaboration between the strong air forces of Thailand and Indonesia through the mixed drills," reads part of the caption, adding that the exercise took place from June 9 to 19.

"Both countries' air forces took to the skies above southern Esan," it goes on to say, referring to the northwestern region of Thailand.

Screenshot of the Royal Thai Air Force post taken July 28, 2025, with the picture highlighted by AFP

The Royal Thai Air Force also published a press release on its official website about the conclusion of the joint air drills with Indonesia on June 20, 2025 (archived link).

Matching visuals -- including the aircraft images and the logo -- can also be seen in a June 19 article about the joint Thai-Indonesian air drill on a dedicated blog (archived link).

AFP has debunked more misinformation on the Thailand-Cambodia dispute here, here and here.

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

E-mail