Absolutely fair points - just bad paragraph construction on my part - when I used the Syria example I meant that referring to 'most people are not combatants'.
The next para is supposed to be more general, and you're right I guess technically this wouldn't apply to Syrians.
Apologies - I'll do better next comment (assuming I think posting anything here on Steemit is worth it) thanks for actually reading the comment!
It's okay, I write pretty extensively about Syria and like to correct misconceptions. Thank you for understanding.