New York, Dec 27 (IANS): Pakistan and Israel has been led to a verbal feud, threatening each other of nuclear war after a fake news story caused tensions between the two nuclear nations.

According to a report on CNN on Monday, in an article published by AWDNews on Tuesday, December 20, former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon was falsely quoted as threatening to destroy Pakistan if it sent troops to Syria.

"We will destroy them with a nuclear attack," the article falsely quoted Yaalon as saying.

Mistaking the news as real, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif responded on his official Twitter handle, "Israeli (defence minister) threatens nuclear retaliation presuming (Pakistan) role in Syria against Daesh. Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear State, too."

Soon, Israeli Ministry of Defence responded to Pakistan on Twitter, saying that the Yaalon's statement quoted in the report was entirely false.

"The statement attributed to (former Defence Minister) Yaalon (regarding) Pakistan was never said," the ministry tweeted on its account, adding "Reports referred to by the Pakistani Defence Minister are entirely false."

Later on Christmas, Asif said in a tweet that their nuclear programme was only a "deterrence to protect" their freedom.

"We desire to coexist in peace, both in our region and beyond," Asif tweeted.

The spread of fake news on internet has been recently a matter of serious concern.

Recently, critics blamed Facebook for influencing the US elections in favour of President-elect Donald Trump by circulating a "host of fake news stories about political topics".