Qatar condemns Israel's 'horrific' pager, walkie-talkie attacks on Lebanon

Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lolwah Al-Khater, has described Israel’s use of "everyday devices in people's hands as ticking time bombs" as a "horrific nightmare", in reference to Israel's exploding pager and walkie-talkie attacks targeting Hezbollah members and Lebanese civilians earlier this week.

She also expressed alarm at the "deafening silence" from the international community regarding the atrocities.

In a post on her official X (formerly Twitter) account on Thursday, Al-Khater said, "The weak and negligent response from the international community to the pager attack in Lebanon is terrifying."

She added that the issue "is no longer just about Lebanon, Israel, or Gaza, but about the new dimension modern warfare has just entered." She asked, "These mobile ticking bombs that randomly harm and kill people in public and civilian areas—when did this become acceptable?"

Al-Khater stressed that wars "must be governed by a set of laws and fundamental rules; otherwise, this becomes an extremely dangerous slippery slope where no boundaries exist."

She elaborated, "Even if we accept for argument’s sake that modern warfare, despite its enormous destructive consequences, may have some legitimate causes, wars must still be governed by a set of laws and basic rules."

The Israeli security services launched the unconventional attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday, targeting "pager" and "walkie-talkie" devices in Lebanon, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 37 people and injured around 3,250 others, according to official Lebanese statistics.

Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the sophisticated attack, but U.S. officials have all but confirmed Israeli involvement and signalled Israel informed Washington of the operation after the fact.