Is it better to fight fairly and risk higher casualties than to fight unfairly

Is it better to fight fairly and risk higher casualties than to fight unfairly

War

Is it better to fight fairly and risk higher casualties than to fight unfairly and thereby reduce casualties? I think many of us have the intuition that war nowadays, despite incurring many fewer casualties than wars past, is much more disturbing for the fact that killing (e.g., by dropping bombs) (1) is so easy and (2) typically does not allow opponents any real self-defense. Is there anything to be said for a fair fight in war, or should our sole moral object be to minimize overall casualties?

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