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.

Thailand warned its conflict with neighboring Cambodia could “potentially develop into a war” as troops used rockets and artillery to shell targets along their contested border for a second

"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.

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

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.

Thailand bombed Cambodia with F-16 fighter jets on Thursday, as relations between the two countries imploded following clashes on a disputed border near the Emerald Triangle.

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.

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.