A Syrian Hezbollah fighter surrendered himself to the Israeli Defense Forces on Wednesday following an attempt to seek refuge in the Christian village of Rmaych, a Lebanese border town currently inside Israel’s 5-10-kilometer forward defense zone, a local official told This Is Beirut.
The fighter, Syrian-national Abdullah Ahmad al-Obed, sustained shrapnel injuries to the back while fighting in Bint Jbeil, before escaping through the wilderness and “surviving days without food”, according to the source.
On his entry into Rmaych on Wednesday morning, Israeli surveillance drones began circling the border town before Israeli military officials called the Lebanese Civil Defense forces in the town and organized a call with the wounded fighter.
After speaking briefly on the phone, Obed agreed to hand himself over to Israeli military, walking to a predetermined meeting point outside of town where he surrendered himself and was taken by the army into Israel. The Mayor of Rmaych confirmed that the wounded fighter left the town alone, saying that Civil Defense forces initially refused to hand him over despite Israeli threats on the town.
Israeli forces said they had encircled Bint Jbeil by April 13, with concentrated fighting persisting in the large urban municipality for days. NNA has reported renewed clashes in the town since the Israel-Lebanon ceasefire took effect, including as recently as April 18.
On April 23, Israeli spokespeople announced that the IDF’s 300th Brigade had “arrested a terrrorist from the Radwan Force unit of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon” the previous day, saying he surrendered and was transferred to Unit 504 for further investigation. The Radwan force, Hezbollah’s most elite combat unit, fought in Syria during parts of their 2011-2024 civil war, helping to prop up the regime of Bashar al-Assad, according to analysis by the Washington Institute.
Other indications of Hezbollah-aligned Syrian fighters in the current conflict have been sporadic, surfacing during the closures of cross-border smuggling routes or in confirmations of killed fighters.
The captured combatant may provide increased insight into the scope of Syrian involvement in the current war, particularly if stronger ties can be established to the former Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, a one-time ally of Hezbollah who is now living in exile.
On December 18, 2025, Syrian authorities asked Lebanon for help locating more than 200 former regime officers who had fled across the border, according to Reuters. The request followed an earlier Reuters report showing that Lebanon had become a hub for pro-Assad remnants plotting to overthrow the new regime in Damascus.
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