The term human shield refers to innocent civilians who are used to prevent your enemy from using his weapons against you. Even though this practice is contrary to the laws of land warfare it is widely used. Those of you who are Operation Iraqi Freedom military ring customers, Operation enduring Freedom ring customers or even Vietnam War ring customers may remember that this practice was widely used in those conflicts. Noy only those but just about every conflict that you can imagine.
Human shields are used in many ways. Sometimes they ars used as escorts or placed in and around sensitive areas. Sometimes combatants may choose to fire their weapons from areas close to schools, hospitals, marketplaces, etc. where innocent civilians are located. If the prescence of the human shields are disregarded by the opposing force the combatants who used them will use the human shield casualties in their propaganda campaign.
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