With Australian troops policing civil unrest in East Timor and the Solomon Islands and contributing to coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr Downer said that any Australian effort in Lebanon would be very limited.
"If there were appropriate United Nations Security Council resolutions ...and as long as Hezbollah withdraws from southern Lebanon ... we would consider playing some role," he said during an official visit to Hong Kong.
"It would only be a niche role - specialists in areas like engineering or the medical corps or logistics or perhaps some leadership role," he said.
The UN is hammering out a deal to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah fighters, whose three-week old conflict has claimed the lives of more than 850 civilians and dozens of combatants.
Prime Minister John Howard said this week he would only support an Australian role if the peacekeeping force was in the range of 10,000-15,000 troops.