It’s not just the general population that is growing in cities — hostilities in armed conflicts are increasingly taking place in population centres. This is a trend that is only likely to continue.

While past insurgencies could conceal themselves in mountainous areas or jungles, the vulnerability of conducting warfare in the wide-open terrain of the Middle East has driven fighters to base their operations in cities.

There, armed conflicts are waged with weapons designed for use on open battlefields, amplifying their destructive power in the crowded city.

Age-old tactics of warfare can also be seen in today’s urban battlefronts: sieges intended to starve out or demoralize the opponent, aerial campaigns designed to terrorize the civilian population, and intense, artillery-backed street-to-street fighting.

Again, all too often, it is civilians who bear the brunt.