Hezbollah chief says ready for any Israeli attack

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said on Sunday he had asked his fighters to be on alert for any possible Israeli attack on Lebanon and called on Egyptians in their "millions" to take to the streets to force their government to open the country's border with Gaza following Israeli raids that have killed nearly 300 Palestinians.

In his first comments since Israel's bloody assault, Nasrallah likened the air strikes that have killed at least 296 people since Saturday to the 34-day war in the summer of 2006 that killed more than 1,200 Lebanese civilians and more than 160 Israeli soldiers.

 I have asked the brothers in the resistance in the south specifically to be present, on alert and cautious because we are facing a criminal enemy and we don't know the magnitude of the conspiracies 

Hezbollah chief

Nasrallah told a gathering of thousands in Beirut's southern suburbs that the Israeli "enemy" was capable of fighting on several fronts simultaneously and that his fighters were prepared to repel any attacks Israel might undertake against Lebanon.

"I have asked the brothers in the resistance in the south specifically to be present, on alert and cautious because we are facing a criminal enemy and we don't know the magnitude of the conspiracies," Nasrallah said.

Nasrallah said Israeli forces were on alert along the border with Lebanon since Saturday when the attack on Gaza began and said they were either taking precautionary measures or preparing for an attack in an attempt to avenge its failure to destroy Hezbollah in 2006.

Egypt protests

 If the people took to the streets by the millions, could the police kill millions of Egyptians?...People of Egypt, you must open this border by the force of your chests 

Hassan Nasrallah

In his address Nasrallah called on Egyptians to pressurize their government to open its borders with the impoverished strip.

"If the people took to the streets by the millions, could the police kill millions of Egyptians?" said the leader of the Shiite resistance group.

"People of Egypt, you must open this border by the force of your chests," he said.

If Egypt did not open the Rafah crossing to Gaza, it would be considered a partner in the killing of Palestinians by the Israeli military, he added.

The Hezbollah chief also called for a mass rally to be held in his movement's bastion in the Shiite southern suburbs of Beirut on Monday in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

"I invite you to gather in a large and massive rally in the afternoon to participate in a ceremony of mourning prayer for the martyrs and to express our solidarity," Nasrallah said.

"We will tell the world we are here, and terrorism and killing cannot intimidate us."