[krapp]

>Based on a quick skim it looks like he's talking about combatant deaths?

You should have read the article more closely.

    Hegseth describes the war in Iran very differently. At a news conference last week, he said it would have “no stupid rules of engagement.” In another, he said that the U.S. military would shower “death and destruction from the sky all day long.”

    Today’s campaign isn’t about enduring freedom. It’s called Operation Epic Fury. “Maximum lethality, not tepid legality,” Hegseth said earlier this year. “Violent effect, not politically correct.” 

What part of this language leads you to believe he's only talking about combatant deaths?