War is hell.
If you make a mistake, you eat it and move on. You don’t quit. You don’t listen to “international pressure”. You say “sorry Charlie”, and you move on and do your best to avoid another mistake.
We firebombed the crap out of Dresden. We dropped Nukes on Japanese cities. Tragically, and with a flood of tears from the Lord our God, civilians die in wars.
Want to minimize civilian death from wars? Kick your enemies ass and END THE WAR.
We firebombed Dresden because the Germans had started with the Battle of Britain, the Blitz.