Articles 48 and 51 of the Geneva Convention (written between 1864 and 1949) discuss the targeting of civilians in war and state that civilians are not to be targeted unless they take an active role in the conflict. It does not go on to differentiate between civilians acting under duress and those acting in concert. Which goes to prove that legally trying to draw occlusions on soldiers in active conflict zones is not straightforward. You have an enemy but he is hiding, there is little clear uniformed army to engage.
In World War 2 over two million German civilians were killed in the bombing and invasion campaigns. 400,000 French civilians lost their lives most through the Allied bombing campaigns and months of fighting following the invasion of mainland Europe. On the other hand it was directly because millions of civilians can die in war that Europe decided finally, after thousands of conflicts, to work together in peaceful accord.
The Muslim world has a large section of its societies which have yet to reach that realisation.
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