CAIRO (AFP) - Nearly 3,000 Egyptians protested against the recent Israeli raid on Syria and the U.S. occupation in Iraq, gathering after Friday prayers at the Al-Azhar mosque, a police source said.

Worshippers gathered within the walls of the mosque in central Cairo, chanting slogans vilifying Israel and the United States, the source said.

The demonstrators denounced the "barbaric" Israeli raid launched Sunday on Syrian territory, the Egyptian press agency MENA reported.

Israel said its attack targeted what it called Palestinian terrorist training camps, but Syria has maintained that civilian areas were hit.

Protesters called upon Arab leaders to adopt a "unified position" vis-a-vis "Israeli aggression" against Syria and the "American occupation" in Iraq, the police source said.

U.S. President George W. Bush marked six months Thursday since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq where U.S.-led troops remain.

Egyptian state emergency laws in effect since 1981 forbid demonstrations in public streets, but permit them in universities and mosques.