Pakistan’s defense minister threatened to retaliate in kind to any Israeli nuclear strike after apparently being tricked by a fake news site into a confrontation on social media, AFP reports.
Khawaja Asif was responding to an invented story published on the website AWDNews and headlined: “Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan send ground troops into Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack.”
“Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh (Islamic State). Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too,” the Pakistani minister tweeted Friday.
His missive prompted a clarification from Israel’s Ministry of Defense, which responded to him on Saturday:
“@KhawajaMAsif The statement attributed to fmr Def Min Yaalon re Pakistan was never said,” adding: “KhawajaMAsif reports referred to by the Pakistani Def Min are entirely false”.
