A fake news story has threatened to upset bilateral ties between Israel and Pakistan. The story published by AWD News website on December 20 quoted the “Israeli Defence Minister” as saying that they would destroy Pakistan with a nuclear attack if Islamabad sent troops to Syria. However, the statement is then attributed to former defence minister of Israel, Moshe Ya’alon, reported Dawn.

While Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif (pictured above) was quick to respond with “Israel forgets Pakistan is a nuclear state too”, the Benjamin Netanyahu government held that the news was fake and the current defence minister had never made that comment.

Pakistan has yet to react to the statement put out by Israel’s Defence Ministry on Twitter. AWD has been identified by fact-checking organisations as a fake news site, reported The Guardian.