For those seriously interested in the topic of &#x27;justified&#x27; military action, there is a clear, very well-established and followed (including by the U.S.) international Law of War. The fundemental considerations are: [1]<p>* Necessity: Does it provide significant military benefit?<p>* Distinction: Distinguishing between military targets and civilians<p>* Proportionality: One shot from a mortar does not justify flattening a town.<p>* Humanity: I&#x27;m not sure of the definition, but think of it in context of &quot;crimes against humanity&quot;.<p>For an example of a serious analysis of a real issue, here&#x27;s a great writeup of the question of bombing civilian trucks in Syria:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.justsecurity.org&#x2F;28064&#x2F;targeting-tankers-law-war-part-1&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.justsecurity.org&#x2F;28064&#x2F;targeting-tankers-law-war...</a><p>[EDIT: Added definitions to the terms]<p>----<p>[1] I&#x27;m certainly not an expert in this field, so my presentation of it might be not quite right in one way or another.