Netherlands
Practice Relating to Rule 13. Area Bombardment
The Military Manual (1993) of the Netherlands provides that “attacks (by bombardment) which treat as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, village or area containing a concentration of civilians or civilian objects” are an example of indiscriminate attacks and, as such, prohibited.
The Military Manual (2005) of the Netherlands states:
The following attacks are also considered indiscriminate:
- what is known as carpet bombing. In AP I [1977 Additional Protocol I], this is described as attacks (by bombing) which treat as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects.