State and city start to modernise island battle scene (7)

I believe the answer is:

salamis

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'state and city start to modernise island battle scene' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'state and city start to modernise island' is the wordplay.
'state' becomes 'sa' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'and' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'city' becomes 'LA' (Los Angeles).
'start to' indicates taking the first letters.
'island' becomes 'is' (abbreviation).
The first letter of 'modernise' is 'm'.
'sa'+'la'+'m'+'is'='SALAMIS'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for salamis that I've seen before include "they're cured!" , "sea-battle" , "Greek island" , "Highly seasoned sausages" , "Greek-Persian sea battle" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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