TT #325 · Parashas Shoftim · Seventh Aliyah · Passuk 20:19
When you besiege a city for many days to fight against it to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an axe against them, for from them you may eat, and you shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the field a man, to come before you in the siege?
Torah Temimah points to Bava Kamma 91b / Sifrei.
TT lemma: כִּי הָאָדָם עֵץ הַשָּׂדֶה.
Sefaria — Bava Kamma 91b / Sifrei
English: ‘For is the tree of the field a man’ – is the tree of the field a man?
Derash on the rhetorical question (Bavli / Sifrei) — trees are not human adversaries and therefore should not be treated as such.
A tree is not a man who can come against you in siege; therefore it is not to be destroyed as an enemy.