Pakistani defence minister issues nuclear threat to Israel after reading fake news

Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif threatened Israel with a nuclear war on Twitter after reading information from a site which is known for promoting fake news and conspiracy theories.

After reading the fake news article, the Pakistani defence minister got riled up and issued a thinly veiled warning to Israel on Friday, "reminding" the nation that Pakistan is a nuclear state too and can retaliate if attacked by other nations.

"Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh. Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too AH," the minister tweeted.

Asif reportedly reacted on Twitter after reading an article on the website AWD which said that the Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya'alon had threatened a nuclear attack on Pakistan if it sent its troops to Syria.

"As far as we are concerned, that is a threat, if, by misfortune, they arrive in Syria, we will know what to do, we will destroy them with a nuclear attack," Ya'alon apparently said in the AWD article.

However, the news was clearly fake considering the Israeli minister had stepped down from his position in May. After the Pak minister's reaction, the Israeli defence ministry also clarified that Ya'alon never made any such statement and that Asif's reaction was based on false information.

Both Israel and Pakistan are nuclear powers, however, neither of the countries have signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Reports state that Asif had also threatened India with a nuclear strike in September this year. Pakistan developed its nuclear arsenal in response to India's.

Fact-checking site Snope has declared AWD News "extremely dubious" after analysing the content of its articles which sometimes carry incorrect information. The site also has articles claiming that the Russian President Vladimir Putin is dead that Russia is planning an attack on Saudi Arabia.