Muammar Gaddafi called on Libyans to devote themselves to military training to deter "foreign aggressors" from occupying the country and stealing its oil wealth.
Invoking the 2003, US-led invasion of Iraq, Gaddafi told a rally of supporters in the southern desert oasis of Fezzane the United States and Britain were trying to take control of Iraqi oil to "compensate for their losses in Iraq".
"You must be the armed people so as foreign aggressors or foreign invaders know Libya has armed people who cannot be attacked ... to steal their oil, occupy their land and slaughter them like the Iraqi people," the Libyan leader said in a speech broadcast on state television.
Gaddafi frequently refers to the war in Iraq to warn Libyans about what he says are threats from abroad. Dissidents say he makes such comments to cement power and weaken his opponents' efforts at political and economic reform.
Under the North African country's Jamahiriya, or state of the masses, Libyans are required to perform military service.
The government, inspired by Gaddafi's Green Book, sees Western-style democracy as a system that lets a small minority monopolise wealth and political power.
After three decades in isolation, Gaddafi has slowly tried to improve Libya's image abroad. In 2003, Libya accepted civil responsibility for the bombing of a passenger jet over Scotland and abandoned efforts to produce weapons of mass destruction.