Al Qaeda's second-in-command says the militant group will not stay silent about what Muslims are enduring in the Middle East, and has issued a worldwide call for faithful to rise up in a holy war against Israel.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, in a video statement broadcast on Al-Jazeera television, said al Qaeda now sees "all the world as a battlefield" that is "open in front of us."

The Egyptian-born physician and deputy to Osama bin Laden said the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and Palestinian militants would not be ended with "ceasefires or agreements."

"It is a Jihad for the sake of God and will last until (our) religion prevails ... from Spain to Iraq," al Zawahri said. "We will attack everywhere."

Wearing a grey robe and white turban in the video, al-Zawahri accused Arab regimes of being complicit in the Israeli offensive against Hezbollah and the Palestinians.

"My fellow Muslims, it is obvious that Arab and Islamic governments are not only impotent but also complicit ... and you are alone on the battlefield. Rely on God and fight your enemies ... make yourselves martyrs."

In the video, al-Zawahri also stood in front of a picture of the burning World Trade Center, along with photos of two other militants -- Mohammed Atta, the Egyptian ringleader of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Mohammed Atef, a former top lieutenant of bin Laden who was killed in a U.S. air strike in Afghanistan in 2001.

"The shells and rockets ripping apart Muslim bodies in Gaza and Lebanon are not only Israeli (weapons), but are supplied by all the countries of the crusader coalition. Therefore, every participant in the crime will pay the price," al-Zawahri said.

"We cannot just watch these shells as they burn our brothers in Gaza and Lebanon and stand by idly, humiliated," he added.

It has been a particularly active year of taped messages from al Qaeda's leadership. This was al-Zawahri's 10th statement this year. Bin Laden has issued five messages

According to U.S.-based independent counter-terrorism group IntelCenter, another new audio or video message from bin Laden was expected in the past week on the fighting in Gaza and Lebanon.

Israel's latest offensive on Gaza began days after Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier on June 25. It opened a second front in Lebanon after Hezbollah guerillas killed eight Israeli soldiers and captured two others on July 12.

At least 424 people have been killed in Lebanon since fighting began between Israel and Hezbollah, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, the military and Hezbollah. Fifty-one Israelis have been killed, including 33 members of the military, according to Israeli authorities.

With files from The Associated Press