ANALYSIS: What Gaza crisis taught Israel about Iran

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Jim Hollander / EPAAn Israeli soldier from the Home Front Command comforts and plays with a boy in an air raid shelter in the southern Israeli town of Ashkelon on November 19. Many people in this border town close to the Gaza Strip stayed close to the shelters, and even spent most the day inside.By Martin Fletcher, NBC NewsNews analysis

ASHKELON, Israel -- Israel's warplanes and Iron Dome anti-rocket missiles have been facing south for eight days, but their message was heard loud and clear to the north -- by leaders in Iran and Lebanon.

Follow @NBCNewsWorld The fighting against Hamas in Gaza, carried out by mostly missiles and planes, can be seen as a war game for what could happen if Israel moved to take out Iran's nuclear program, a much larger action that could result in both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran firing rockets toward Tel Aviv.

And violent as it has been, one Israeli general described Hamas, when comparing its might to Hezbollah and Iran, as a rain drop in a storm.

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