ISRAEL launched a series of missile strikes in Syria today, following an incident that triggered warning sirens close to its secretive Dimona nuclear reactor.

“A surface-to-air missile was fired from Syria to Israel’s southern Negev,” the Israeli military said in a statement. “In response, we struck the battery from which the missile was launched and additional surface-to-air batteries in Syria.”

According to Syrian state news agency Sana, the Israeli attack came from the occupied Golan Heights early today and was aimed “towards positions in the vicinity of Damascus.”

Syrian military officials said that the air defence batteries had intercepted most of the missiles, but four soldiers had been wounded and “some material losses” had been caused.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the Israeli missiles hit the Syrian government’s air defence base in the town of Dmeir, about 25 miles north-east of Damascus.

Israel has never publicly acknowledged the existence of a nuclear missile programme and is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Experts, however, believe that Tel Aviv has somewhere between 100 and 300 atomic warheads.

In 1986, Israeli nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu was drugged and abducted by Israeli intelligence services before being jailed for 18 years, 11 of which were served in solitary confinement, for leaking details of the country’s nuclear weapons programme to the British press.

Israel has launched frequent missile strikes against Syria, claiming to be targeting Iranian military positions, which it sees as a threat to its sovereignty.

Tensions are running high between Tel Aviv and Tehran following an attack on Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant earlier this month.

Iran blamed Israel for what it branded an act of terrorism and vowed to take “revenge.”