text: Chapter 13
  13-25. U.S. practice is that the designation of an armed nonstate group as hostile (as such targetable at all
  times) and its members as direct participants in hostilities, should only be made by an official authorized to
  do so. Without such a designation, the determination of whether a civilian may be targeted depends on
  whether that civilian is committing specific acts that amount to hostile acts or demonstrations of hostile
  intent, in accordance with the standing rules of engagement. In addition, individual conflicts may involve
  specific rules of engagement that incorporate direct participation in hostilities analysis.
  PROPORTIONALITY
  13-26. Proportionality requires that the anticipated loss of life and damage to property incidental to
  attacks must not be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage expected to be
  gained. Proportionality is process-oriented rather than result-oriented. Decisionmakers are expected to take
  all feasible precautions in planning military operations, but they remain dependent on the (often imperfect
  and incomplete) information available at the time to weigh the risk these operations may pose to the
  civilian population. In this context, proportionality may be viewed as a fulcrum upon which military forces
  and commanders must weigh the legitimate destructive effect of an attack (the law of war principle of
  military necessity) against the undesirable incidental effects of an attack (such as the risk of death or injury
  to civilians not taking a direct part in hostilities). Proportionality may be applied by decisionmakers at the
  national, strategic, operational, or tactical level.
  13-27. Proportionality does not prohibit destruction for which there is military necessity, or limit the
  degree of engagement of enemy military forces in the absence of civilians or civilian objects. In particular,
  it does not prohibit bringing overwhelming firepower to bear on an opposing military force to subdue or
  destroy it. Nor does it prohibit injury to civilians that is incidental to lawful military operations. As used in
  this context, proportionality constitutes an acknowledgment of the unfortunate inevitability—but
  lawfulness—of incidental injury to civilians not taking a direct part in hostilities, or of the incidental
  damage or destruction of civilian objects, despite precautions, in the execution of legitimate military
  operations, particularly when these persons or objects have been intermingled with military forces or
  objectives.
  13-28. Proportionality is weighed by a commander in determining whether, in engaging in offensive or
  defensive operations, that commander’s actions may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life,
  injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, that would be excessive in relation
  to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated by those actions. The military advantage
  anticipated is intended to refer to the advantage anticipated from those actions considered as a whole, and
  not only from isolated or particular parts thereof. Generally, military advantage is not restricted to tactical
  gains, but is linked to the full context of a war strategy.
  HONOR
  13-29. Honor has long been a basis of warrior ethos and of the law of war. Honor demands a certain
  mutual respect and trust between opposing forces. It denounces and forbids resort to dishonorable means,
  expedients, or conduct that would constitute a breach of trust. An example of this form of honor is the use
  of a white flag, which in land warfare represents a flag of truce. Its display is predicated upon good faith.
  Its misuse is prohibited and constitutes a war crime. Another example of how honor applies comes from
  law of war requirements regarding the treatment of persons hors de combat—that is, military personnel
  who are no longer able to fight due to sickness, injury, or wounds, or because they are shipwrecked. The
  principle of honor (and other humanitarian considerations) requires that an individual who is hors de
  combat be treated and protected in the same manner as one would wish to be treated and protected by the
  enemy if the roles were reversed. However, this principle is not dependent upon reciprocity.
  THE SOLDIER’S AND MARINE’S BASIC RULES
  13-30. It is DOD policy that members of DOD components comply with the law of war during all armed
  conflicts, however such conflicts are characterized (such as international armed conflict or
  non-international armed conflict), and in all other military operations. The law of war principles discussed
  in paragraphs 13-13 through 13-29 can be safely applied by Soldiers and Marines by adhering to the
  following ten basic rules: