The only time we take civilian houses are when we are in ribat and fighting a battle (and this is due to dire need) and the enemy on the other side does the same.
For example, to make it clearer for the reader, imagine five villages all one behind the other. We are in village one and the enemy is in village two. All the civilians evacuate both these villages and its purely us vs. them, shooting anything we see move, and vice versa. After we kill them and drive them back, they go to village three and we are now in village two. The civilians of village one return back home and the civilians of village three evacuate their homes.
After we kill them and push them back again, the enemy goes to village four (and all its civilians evacuate) and we enter village three (where we just pushed them out of) and the civilians of village two return to their homes. And so on and so forth, the cycle repeating itself as we expand.
Furthermore, the houses we take during ribat are always kept clean and we treat it as an amanah (trust). We eat, sleep, and shower in these houses and they are taken care of. And I do not say this out of ‘blind love’ for Dawlah, nay I say this as these are the facts.
Yes, occasionally a glass may break or a stain may appear on the carpet, but this is not the norm nor intentional. We wash all dishes, keep the place clean and make sure nothing is damaged.