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Hezbollah Withdraws Elite Forces from Syria After 14 Years of Interventions to Protect the Regime
Hezbollah has responded to recent cyber and military attacks from Israel by recalling some of its troops operating in various Arab countries, particularly elite units and special task forces stationed in Syria.
The call for reinforcements from Syria has affected forces located in Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor provinces, as well as in the Syrian desert sectors. Meanwhile, military outposts belonging to the Syrian regime and independent sites in southern Syrian provinces have seen the deployment of Hezbollah units and repositioning in areas they had vacated earlier this year, according to military and security sources speaking to Syria TV.
Since the beginning of September, Hezbollah has issued a directive to its units to increase their readiness across all Syrian territories and prepare for new deployments without specifying their locations.
On September 18 and 19, security and military groups operating in Syria under Hezbollah were instructed to hand over their assigned tasks to the operational command and the sectors of the Syrian army in their areas of presence. The Lebanese militia has required the informed groups to place themselves and their military equipment at the disposal of the commanders responsible for Hezbollah's operations in both Qusayr, in Homs countryside, and Zabadani, in Damascus countryside, for their subsequent transfer to southern Lebanon.
According to sources, the number of returning Lebanese fighters has exceeded 700 by Sunday evening, with about two-thirds of them recalled by the party through smuggling routes under its control in rural Damascus, while some fighters returned using private vehicles and legally through customs crossings.
سلسة غارات إسرائيلية على بلدات في القطاع الأوسط جنوبي لبنان
The militia organizes the return trips sporadically, with fighters being transported in small groups of no more than ten members using small buses, civilian transport trucks, or even motorcycles, as a form of camouflage to avoid being targeted by Israeli drones that operate in the area for extended periods daily.
The source confirmed that the majority of the returning elements are from the “Radwan Unit,” which is considered Hezbollah's elite and spearheads its direct military engagements. The Radwan Unit operates in Qusayr, Zabadani, and Qalamoun, with special camps near the town of Douma in rural Damascus and others in eastern Homs countryside.
Hezbollah's mobilization, coinciding with heightened military pressure along the Lebanese-Israeli border, is not limited to reinforcing its forces in the south through the recall of troops from Syria alone; it has also involved the return of leadership cadres and trainers from Iraq and Yemen.
Special sources revealed to Syria TV that experts specializing in training teams for the operation and management of drones and missile systems have returned from Yemen and Iraq to Syria since the beginning of September and have immediately moved to Lebanon.
Hezbollah experts oversee military programs for the Yemeni "Ansar Allah" militia, which includes the development and operation of guided anti-tank and fortification missile systems, as well as handling chemical weapons and integrating them with thermal missiles.
In late 2022, a Saudi security source informed Syria TV that the Syrian regime organizes and facilitates the use of Syrian territory by Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as training camps for Yemeni militias, confirming that groups from Yemen have undergone military training several times in the Al-Darij area of rural Damascus.
The withdrawal of hundreds of elements and cadres from Syria and other countries does not signify Hezbollah’s withdrawal from Syria after 14 years of involvement aimed at protecting the Syrian regime from collapse. Instead, it is a tactical maneuver in response to the Israeli threat and escalation in Lebanon. If an agreement is reached that alleviates the specter of war over Lebanon, Hezbollah is expected to return to Syria with an even larger force.
