Danish television channel TV2 has apologised for using an image of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed to illustrate a news report about Syria.

The channel's head of news, Jacob Nybroe, said to the Times of Israel on Sunday that the mix-up was a terrible mistake and a "reminder to us all of the importance of verifying the sources of pictures."

Nybroe said the channel only learned about the mistake last week and said an employee for the network found the image online and believed it to be a photo of Damascus' skyline.

The shot from Assassin's Creed was broadcast behind news anchor Cecilie Beck on February 26.

In another news report about Syria last year, the BBC broadcast the logo of Halo's fictional United Nations Space Command in a report about the very real United Nations Security Council.