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Former CIA chief Panetta calls mass detonation of Hezbollah pagers ‘a form of terrorism’

Former CIA chief and defense secretary Leon Panetta says the mass detonation of Hezbollah communication devices, widely attributed to Israel is “a form of terrorism.”

  • “The ability to be able to place an explosive in technology that is very prevalent these days and turn it into a war of terror. This is something new,” Panetta tells CBS.
  • “This has gone right into the supply chain. When you have terror going into the supply chain, it makes people ask the question, ‘What the hell is next?’ This is a tactic that has repercussions, and we really don’t know what those repercussions are going to be,” he continues.
  • “The forces of war are largely in control right now of what’s going on,” the former CIA chief adds.

Pressed on whether the US should condemn Israel for the operation, Panetta dodges.

  • “I think it’s going to be very important for the nations of the world to have a serious discussion about whether or not this is an area that everybody has to focus on because if they don’t try to deal with it now, mark my word, it is the battlefield of the future,” he says.

Source: Jacob Magid – TOI

Comment: The attacks were focused on bombs assumed to be in the possession of Hezbollah but Israel had no guarantee that all of the explosive devices would be. Nor did it have any guarantees of where the bombs would be or who would be in the vicinity when the bombs were detonated.

As it were, the bombs were detonated among the general public. That coupled with the fact that the bombs were disguised as innocuous devices in contravention of international law is the crux of the terrorism argument.