Some 400,000 residents of Israel 's Tel Aviv will not be sufficiently protected in case of a missile strike, local media reported Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak stressed Sunday that Israel was prepared to react if Syria's armaments fell into hands of Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group.

Israeli military officials also said recently that in case that weapons were moved from Syria to Lebanon, it would be a "casus belli" to which Israel will respond.

However, local media said Wednesday that a review of the security measures conducted in light of the looming threats of confrontation with Syria and Iran yielded some worrying findings.

While a battery of Iron Dome, an air defense system, was installed recently in central Israel, it does not provide protection against ballistic missiles.

Meanwhile, as the authority was trying to map out bombing shelters in Tel Aviv, it was discovered that the shelters can house only 40,000 people -- about tenth of the city's population.

The good news is that the existing shelters are well maintained, especially in schools and kindergartens. Also, emergency services are holding frequent drills to practice different scenarios.

According to Tel Aviv municipality, more than 2.5 million U.S. dollars was invested in recent years to protect the city in case of emergency.

The municipality introduced in a press release its measures to protect residents.

"The existing shelters are being maintained and monitored by the municipality as well as the Home Front Command," the statement read.

"Many of the shelters have been upgraded in accordance with the command's standards. In total, the city has 241 public shelters, 111 of which are equipped with air filtering systems designed to deal with chemical weapons," it said.

It also said that shelters and other fortified areas installed in the city's schools may be used by residents.

But shelter is not the only answer to the threats, a senior source in Israeli army's Home Front Command told Xinhua this week. There are different solutions, according to the officer, including an early warning system that gives civilians at least 90 seconds to take cover, and measures that help people to go on with their lives instead of spending weeks in shelters and grinding the city to a halt in case of a large-scale missile attack.

Tensions in the Middle East intensified the past week, as clashes in Syria is getting to the heart of the leadership in Damascus.

Israel's main fear is that Syrian weapons of mass destruction will fall into the hands of Hezbollah.

Syria is believed to have the largest stockpile of chemical weapons in the region, including nerve agents, cyanide and mustard gas.

Israel and Hezbollah have fought a number of low and high- intensity wars over the years.

During the last conflict in 2006, Hezbollah fired more than 4, 000 rockets over northern Israel.