Former CIA director Leon Panetta called Israel's targeted pager attack on Hezbollah terrorists last week "a form of terrorism" in an interview on CBS on Sunday.
Asked whether he thought Israel should be condemned for the operation, he said, "The nations of the world need to have a serious discussion about whether or not this is an area that everyone has to focus on because if they don't try to deal with it now.
"Mark my words, it is the battlefield for the future," Panetta added.
"The ability to place an explosive in technology that is very prevalent these days, and turn it into a war of terror. I don't think that there's any question that this is a form of terrorism," he continued.
Pager operation will have repercussions - Panetta
He also noted his worry in the interview, describing the pager attack operation as something "that has repercussions. And we really don't know what those repercussions are gonna be.
In addition to the former CIA Director, Panetta also had served as the US Secretary of Defense.