GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The leader of Lebanese militant Hezbollah said Sunday that he has asked his men to be on alert in southern Lebanon in case Israel attacks and promised not to abandon Hamas.

Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said he feared a possible Israeli attack but said Hezbollah was ready to confront any aggression against Lebanon. He did not threaten to launch attacks against Israel

His comments came as Israel continued two days of intensive air raids against Palestinian targets in the Gaza Strip. The strikes have killed some 280 people in Gaza since Saturday.

"I have asked the brothers in the resistance, especially in the south, to be present and cautious because we are facing a treacherous and criminal enemy," Nasrallah said. "We are not scared of what happened in July 2006 nor what is happening in Gaza."

Hezbollah fought a 34-day war with Israel in the summer of 2006 that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, most of them civilians, and 159 in Israel.

Nasrallah spoke from a secret location through a giant screen to hundreds of supporters who gathered in Hezbollah's stronghold of Beirut's southern suburbs.

He called for a massive rally south of Beirut in support of Gaza on Monday afternoon pledging not to leave Gaza "alone." He made it clear that his group will not use its arms to support Hamas but through rallies and campaigns to end the attacks against Gaza.

Nasrallah also launched a strong verbal attack against the Egyptian government saying if it does not open its Rafah border crossing with Gaza then "you are taking part in the crime" against Palestinians.

He called on the Egyptian people to rise and open the Rafah border crossing with Gaza to end the suffering of the Palestinian people.

"Some personalities are conspiring against the nation. Some 300 Palestinians were slaughtered within minutes and an Arab official blamed the victim (Hamas) for being responsible," he said, in an apparent reference to comments by Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit

"No one is asking Egypt to open a front (with Israel) but to open the border crossing so that medicine and food can reach Gaza," he said.

Nasrallah predicted that 'Gaza would emerge victorious as Hezbollah had emerged victorious as in Lebanon in 2006.'

'The Americans and Zionists wants to impose their conditions on the Palestinians, the Lebanese and Syria,' Nasrallah said.

'The US-Israeli agenda aims at creating a humiliating settlement to the Arabs,' Nasrallah said.

The comments came on the first day of Ashoura, a Shiite commemoration of the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala on 10 Muharram in the year 61 AH (October 10, 680 AD).

He charged that some Arab regimes are partners to the American- Zionist agenda.

'Some Arab countries had signed peace with Israel are partners to the scheme,' Nasrallah said, adding that some Arab countries want to finish off Hamas, as Israel attempted to destroy Hezbollah in 2006.

He called on 'all the Arab people to go to the streets, even if they are shot at, to pressure their governments to end the bloodshed in Gaza.'

'Today the Egyptian stance should be the corner stone in the Gaza conflict ... they (the Egyptians) should open their borders to allow the food and medical supplies and even arms to the people of Gaza.'

He urged Egyptians not to pressure Hamas to accept peace agreements. 'If they do so; they will be a partner in the crimes committed against the people of Gaza,' Nasrallah said as the crowd chanted 'God bless Nasrallah.'

Nasrallah urged the people of Egypt to stand against their government and take to the streets in the millions to pressure their government.

'The people of Egypt should open the border with Gaza with their chests,' Nasrallah added.

'I am not calling for a coup d'etat in Egypt. But I am calling officers of the armed forces to urge their leaders to open the crossing to Gaza,' Nasrallah said. -Agencies