<Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (January 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> The aerial bombing of cities in warfare is an optional element of strategic bombing which became widespread during World War I . The bombing of cities grew to a vast scale in World War II, and is still practiced today . The development of aerial bombardment marked an increased capacity of armed forces to deliver ordnance from the air against combatants, military bases, and factories, with a greatly reduced risk to its ground forces . Civilian and non-combatant casualties in bombed cities have variously been a purposeful result of the bombings, or unavoidable collateral damage depending on intent and technology . A number of multilateral efforts have been made to restrict the use of aerial bombardment so as to protect non-combatants . </P> <P> The first bombs delivered to their targets by air were launched on unmanned balloons, carrying a single bomb, by the Austrians against Venice in 1849, during the First Italian War of Independence . </P> <P> The first ever air raid was conducted during the Italo - Turkish War by Italian forces against the Ottoman province of Libya on November 1, 1911 . Giulio Gavotti dropped 1.5 kg of bombs on Ain Zara, a village 8 km west of the capital Tripoli . </P>

Where did the first air raid take place