WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Videos show Thailand using "toxic smoke" on Cambodia.
OUR VERDICT
False. The videos actually show a 2025 Malaysian airshow.
AAP FACTCHECK - Social media users are falsely claiming a video of military planes emitting coloured smoke shows Thailand using "toxic smoke" against Cambodia.
The footage, however, is actually of a Malaysian airshow in 2023.
The caption of a Facebook post insinuates the vision reveals Thailand using toxic fumes on Cambodia in violation of international law.
Underneath what appears to be Khmer script in the caption, English words read: "This is a genocide against humanity."
Another Facebook post with the same text is illustrated with a photo of a burning forest, which a reverse image search reveals is actually a Getty Images shot of a 2019 Brazilian forest fire.
A long-running border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia escalated into a brief armed conflict late in July 2025, before a ceasefire was negotiated.
A spokesperson for Cambodia's Defence Ministry claimed on July 28, 2025, that Thailand had used chemical weapons, including "toxic military smoke", according to Khmer Times newspaper.
Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement denying the allegations soon afterwards.
A wave of misinformation followed the reports, including other images purporting to show Thai aircraft spraying chemicals that misattribute a Reuters photo of an aeroplane dropping fire retardant in the US in January 2025 - first debunked by Sri Lanka's Fact Crescendo.
The videos purporting to show "toxic fumes" are also misattributed, actually showing an air routine by South Korea's Black Eagles aerobatic team in 2023.
Footage uploaded to YouTube in 2023 of the routine at the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition matches the social media videos, including a pan out that reveals the same military helicopter in front of the camera operator.
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