Nato Not Ready to Deploy Forces in the Middle East

NATO does not plan efforts to organize a peace-keeping force along the Israeli-Lebanese border.

NATO sources said the Western alliance lacks the political will as well as the capability to rapidly organize a peace-keeping force that would ensure the withdrawal of the Iranian-sponsored Hizbullah from southern Lebanon. The sources said not one NATO member formally agreed to send troops to an Iranian-dominated war zone.

“The chances of NATO entering this conflict appears very low,” an alliance source said. “Everybody knows that after the first attack, everybody will pull out.”

Israel has proposed the establishment of a NATO force to patrol the border with Lebanon and prevent the entry of Hizbullah. Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said NATO could fulfill the role of the Lebanese Army until it was ready to deploy in the south.

The Israeli proposal was discussed during the current visit by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Officials said Peretz and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have agreed to the deployment of an international force, but not one under United Nations auspices. A UN peace-keeping force has been in Lebanon for nearly 30 years.

“We cannot return to the status quo ante in which extremists can decide to take innocent lives through their rocket capabilities,” Ms. Rice said on Tuesday.

On Monday, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said the alliance has not received an official request for a peace-keeping force. Appathurai said the issue was not scheduled for discussion during the next meeting of permanent NATO ambassadors.

The sources said the United States — expected to discuss an international force during a meeting in Rome on Wednesday — has refused to send troops to Lebanon. They said the prospect of participation by other NATO members in such a mission was extremely low. New Zealand has been the only country that expressed interest in joining such a force.

“Any new international force on the Lebanon-Israel border is liable to face major obstacles and incur substantial risks,” Michael Eisenstadt, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, said.