Former CIA Director Leon Panetta on Sunday called last week's deadly pager explosion in Lebanon "a form of terrorism."
"I don't think there's any question that it's a form of terrorism," Panetta said during an appearance on CBS News' "Sunday Morning."
"This is going right into the supply chain," he added. "And when you have terror going into the supply chain, it makes people ask the question, What the hell is next?"
The explosions that have been widely blamed on Israel killed at least 37 people and wounded more than 3,000, including many members of the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah. Israel has not confirmed or denied involvement.
The United Nations human rights office and some advocacy groups have cried foul, arguing that the strikes were "indiscriminate" because it's nearly impossible to know who was holding the devices, or where they were, when they went off. But some academics insist the explosions were precisely focused because the devices had been distributed to Hezbollah members.
Panetta said the tactic "has repercussions" and that he's worried about what happens next.
"And we really don't know what those repercussions are going to be," Panetta said. "The forces of war are largely in control right now. What's going on now?"
On whether there should be condemnation for it, Panetta responded: "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 words, it is the battlefield of the future."