Question

Hello to Rabbi Michael Abraham, may he live and be well.
It is well known that one of terrorism’s despicable methods is to use civilians as human shields. Some argue that in order to defeat terrorism, civilians must be killed in airstrikes and the like—not only because this saves soldiers’ lives, but also because the population supports terrorism, encourages it, and takes pride in it. That may be true regarding terrorism, but what about the army of an enemy state that has facilities located in cities? In that case too, is the population guilty because it supports its army? The logic would seem to say that this is legitimate. Or perhaps, similar to World War II, is it permissible to bomb entire cities together with their inhabitants?