Scorched earth
A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy while it is advancing through or withdrawing from a location. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, for example food sources, water supplies, transportation, communications, industrial resources, and even the locale's people themselves.
Scorched Earth Operation
The Scorched Earth Operation refers to events in September 1999 in East Timor. The country had been under Indonesian occupation since 1975, and resistance by Timorese peaked in the later 1990s. A Referendum was held on Timorese independence and was successful. But the Indonesian military and militia rampaged through East Timor destroying vital infrastructure.