[okie01]

I may be wrong about this, but I'm quite certain there is nothing in the NATO bylaws that indicates the member nations only agree to come to each other's aid in the event of an attack by Warsaw Pact nations.

That would be correct. Though the constitutions or statutes of some of the individual nations prohibit their militaries from deployment outside Europe.

Germany is one of these. They couldn't send troops to Afghanistan...but they did send some naval units to the Mediterranean. I believe the Mediterranean littoral is considered within their sphere of operations, though, so German forces could be employed on the Israel-Lebanon border.

[Grzegorz 246]

"They couldn't send troops to Afghanistan"

They have 2-3 thousand in Afghanistan.

[Michael81Dus]

You´re wrong. Germany is not allowed to start or participate in a war on its own, by its own constitution. But if such a war is approved by a "sytem of collective security provisions", it´s alright. German Air Force jets dropped bombs on Belgrade 1999, German medical troops were in Somalia 1994, and elite combat soldiers were fighting along with US troops in the hills of Afghanistan as early as October 2001. Right now, German soldiers are also in Congo. So, it could be very well that we´re going to see German soldiers in south Lebanon in a few months or so.