Originally Posted by
Just This Once...
Not really as the narrative added the 'civilian locations' bit, removed the temporal aspect and avoided the other relevant sections.
As soon as a location becomes a fighting position, regardless of who is in it, it is a target. Please remember that as well.
Example to illustrate:
You and I and fifty civilian tourists are in a building having a piss up. We went to this out of the way building to avoid the shooting that was going on in the nearby city, which is 20 miles away.
We are getting nicely wet when things go badly for us.
One faction's motorized infantry platoon is on the run from another factions mechanized infantry platoon+. They spot this building and decide to use it as a fulcrum for a defend in place, and maybe a counter attack if things go well. A few guys on the roof, some on the bottom floor, we get shooed into a back room at gunpoint and told to not interfere. They commandeer our three vans and five Range Rovers for their withdrawal plan since the fight may not go well and their vehicles are much shot up/in bad shape.
Mechanized unit arrives and shooting commences.
Half of our number end up dead. (And whomever organized this is gonna feel like crap if he survived).
On the one side, no crime has been committed, but you can argue that the group who took over the building should have run us off, not just herded us into a corner and told us to stay out of the way.