The German naval deployment includes 1,500 troops stationed on two frigates, two supply ships, and four fast-patrol boats off the coast of Lebanon; 400 headquarters personnel, and 100 troops charged with training Lebanese soldiers.

The German fleet will join warships from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and the Netherlands in enforcing a blockade on arms shipments to Hezbollah. They will be authorized to use force.

With forces in Afghanistan, Congo, and Kosova, there are now more than 10,000 German troops deployed abroad, the largest number since World War II. The Lebanon deployment is Berlin's first in the Middle East since the end of that war. It registers an ongoing shift by German imperialism toward a more aggressive military role in the world.

"We are in a transformation to make it possible to deploy troops outside of Germany," Sascha Lange, an analyst at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, told the New York Times. "And this is only the beginning."
 
 
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