* Fears attack after Colombia said Venezuela houses rebels

* Ready to talk with incoming Colombian government

* Says alleged camps include derelict house and a rock

(Recasts, adds details of camp visits)

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez on Friday said he deployed military units to repel a
possible attack after Colombia claimed last week his country
harbored leftist rebels, but said he hoped to mend ties soon.

Chavez severed relations with U.S. ally Colombia last week
over Bogota's charges his oil exporting country allowed
Colombian guerrillas to stay in camps.

He has since said Colombia was preparing a military attack.
Colombia denies the charge, and most analysts say a war between
the countries is very unlikely.

"I should tell you we have deployed units to defend our
sovereignty in case of an aggression, air defense units, air
units, infantry, special operations," Chavez said in a phone
call to a state TV station, adding that a Colombian aircraft
had violated Venezuela airspace for five minutes this week.

"We don't want to hurt anybody. We don't want to cause
alarm in the population," said Chavez, who has seized on the
dispute with Colombia to rally supporters ahead of
parliamentary elections on Sept. 26.

This week Venezuelan soldiers visited sites Colombia says
are established military bases, but they found only derelict
buildings, Chavez said. In one case, the coordinate given by
Colombia led soldiers to a rock in a river, he said.

"Last night I said to the guys, "lift the rock," sure its
not a big stone, but you never know, there might be a tunnel,"
he said. "Maybe under the stone there is a tunnel and a camp,
Vietnam-style."

On Sunday he threatened to cut oil supplies to the United
States, who he says is behind the alleged plan to invade, in
case of military aggression from Colombia. The threat is a
common one for Chavez, but he has never followed through and
oil and debt markets shrugged off the news.

The socialist leader said he believed the outgoing
conservative government of President Alvaro Uribe, who he
described as "obsessed," might still attack Venezuela, but said
his Foreign Minister will meet with Colombia's new government,
which takes office on Aug. 7.

Close Uribe ally Juan Manuel Santos, a former defense
minister who will become president next week, wants to improve
relations with Venezuela because the festering dispute has cost
Colombia billions of dollars in lost trade.

Chavez did not say where he had sent the forces, or how
many were deployed. Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez
on Thursday promised no attack was planned.

Two years ago, Chavez ordered tanks to the border in
protest at a Colombian bombing raid on a guerrilla base in
Ecuador. It was never clear if the tanks were mobilized.

A former soldier, Chavez says he would not launch an
offensive against another country, but has spent billions
retooling his armed forces because he says the OPEC nation is
vulnerable to a U.S.-backed invasion.

Venezuela has proposed a wide-reaching peace plan to end
Colombia's four-decade civil war, saying it is a victim of
violent groups that spill over the border. Uribe has wanted
Chavez to take action against guerrillas he say launch dozens
of attacks from Venezuela.

Chavez denies his government supports the rebels, but says
he cannot take sides in the Colombia's war. He also recognizes
that much of Venezuela's 1,375-mile border with
Colombia is porous and vulnerable.

(Reporting by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Stacey Joyce)