As we are referring to carpet bombing, here ya go.
Crimes of War – Summary of Crimes – International Criminal Court
War crime of destruction and appropriation of property. Destroying or appropriating property protected under one or more of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 under circumstances where the destruction or appropriation is not justified by military necessity, such conduct taking place in the context of an international armed conflict.
B. Serious Violations of the Laws and Customs Applicable in International Armed Conflict
War crime of attacking civilians. Deliberately directing an act, the object of which is a civilian population or individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities, such conduct taking place in the context of an international armed conflict.
War crime of excessive incidental death, injury, or damage. Launching an attack that would cause incidental death or injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects or widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment that would be of such an extent as to be clearly excessive in relation to the overall military advantage anticipated, such conduct taking place in the context of an international armed conflict.
Crimes of War – Indiscriminate Attack
The point of this provision is to prevent an attacker from treating a whole city that contains not only civilians but also military targets as a single military target. The individual military objectives may still be targeted, with the possibility of collateral damage to civilians, but weapons must be aimed individually. What counts as sufficiently discriminate targeting is an important question of interpretation, in light of the physical constraints of weapons systems and the inability even with “smart” weapons to achieve perfect targeting. For that matter, there is not even a requirement that only smart weapons be used.
Crimes of War – Indiscriminate Attack
Military objectives are limited to “those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage.” Although every instance of indiscriminate attack violates the law of armed conflict, it is equally the case where attacking a military target may cause collateral damage to civilians or civilian objects. If the harm to civilians is proportionate to the military advantage expected, the attack, other things being equal, is a legal act of war. If the harm is “excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated,” the attack is prohibited, whether or not indiscriminate. (Concrete means perceivable by the senses; direct means having no intervening factor.)
Nearly every army has at some point carried out what today would be described as an indiscriminate attack. Examples include Germany’s V-II rocket attacks during World War II, the Allied “strategic bombing” and firebombing of Dresden and Hamburg, as well as the U.S. carpet-bombing during the Vietnam War. To curb the practice, Additional Protocol I prohibits an attack “by bombardment which treats as a single military objective a number of military objectives located in a city, town, village, or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects.”
