Hun Sen is a wily survivor of Cambodian politics and the wider tumult across Southeast Asia over the last half-a-century. Born to rice farmers in a province heavily bombed during the secret U.S. war in Cambodia and Laos, he became a soldier for the Khmer Rouge, whose murderous regime from 1975 to 1979 killed about a quarter of the population.

Casualties include an 8-year-old Thai boy and multiple Cambodian civilians. Thousands of displaced families are sheltering with monks, NGOs and volunteers as schools and markets close across the border region.

Soth Sim decided to return to his home in Cambodia’s Oddar Meanchey province, which is 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the border with Thailand’s Surin province, as a ceasefire between the two Southeast Asian nations seemed to take hold despite accusations of violations.