Photo of US aircraft dropping fire retardant falsely linked to Thailand-Cambodia conflict

Published on July 29, 2025 at 10:51
3 min read
By Nattakorn PLODDEE, AFP Thailand

After Bangkok rejected what it called the "baseless accusation" it had used chemical weapons over Cambodia during the Southeast Asian neighbours' bloodiest military clashes in decades, a months-old photo resurfaced in posts falsely claiming it showed the Thai air force using a "poisonous smoke weapon". The photo was originally published by the Reuters news agency in a report about firefighting efforts during the Los Angeles wildfires in January 2025.

"Thailand has used poisonous smoke weapon against Cambodia," reads the Khmer-language caption of a Facebook image shared on the verified page of Cambodian Secretary of State Vengsrun Kuoch on July 28, 2025.

The image, which was shared more than 6,300 times, shows what appears to be pink smoke being dropped from an aircraft over a hilly area.

A Thai flag is superimposed over the image with text reading, "Thai troops use poison gas to kill Cambodian civilians".

Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on July 29, 2025, with a red X added by AFP

The same image was also shared thousands of times across social media before Thailand and Cambodia agreed to an unconditional ceasefire to end their bloodiest military clashes in more than a decade (archived link).

The fighting, over a smattering of ancient temples in disputed zones along their 800-kilometre (500-mile) border, has killed at least 42 people and displaced more than 300,000.

Prior to the peace talks, Cambodia's defence ministry accused the Thai air force of deploying "poison gas" during the fighting -- an accusation Thailand's foreign affairs ministry rejected as "baseless" (archived here and here).

The image circulating online does not show a Thai air force jet using a chemical weapon.

A reverse image search on Google led to the same photo published on January 11 in a report by the Reuters news agency about efforts to put out the Palisades fire, the largest conflagration during the Los Angeles wildfires (archived link).

The fires around the United States' second-largest city burned for three weeks, killing at least 30 people and forcing thousands of residents to evacuate their homes (archived link).

The photo is captioned: "An air tanker drops fire retardant at the Palisades Fire, as seen from Woodland Hills, January 11. REUTERS/Ringo Chiu."

Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared image (left) and the Reuters photo (right)

According to a report by Canadian broadcaster CBC, the fire retardant -- a pink powder -- is dropped by planes ahead of the fire's path to slow the flames and allow time to build fire lines (archived link).

Further keyword searches based on the plane's livery seen in the Reuters photo found the aircraft belongs to 10 Tanker, a company that specialises in dropping fire retardant (archived link).

AFP has also debunked other misinformation about the Thailand-Cambodia conflict.

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