Rmaish is a historic town with Roman and Crusader ruins. In 1299, Rmaish was directly under
Mamluk rule.
Ottoman period Rmaish was under
Ottoman rule until 1920. The town was involved in many wars and battles through the history. The most important ones are: • In 1797, the viceroy of Acre
Jazzar Pasha demolished and destroyed the village including the only church that was there. His reasons for that were that Rmaish supported Prince
Bashir El Chahabi against him, they helped
Napoleon in his battle against
Acre and that he was afraid, that Rmaish being the only Christian village in the area, might encourage other Christian villages to rebel against him. Ahmad Basha burned down the church including all the records that were kept inside. The people of Rmaish refused to go back to their village until Ahmad Basha died in 1804 when they went back and rebuilt their church and village. • In 1824, the leader of Rmaish Youssef Daher El Choufani led the village to a victory over the viceroy of Acre,
Abdallah El Darnadli. • In 1829, Rmaish supported Prince
Bashir El Chahabi in his battle against
Sanour. • Rmaish was hit by an
earthquake in January 1837, which devastated the South all the way to Safad and Tiberias.
William McClure Thomson traveled in the region three weeks afterwards, and described how
Rumaish was mostly destroyed, with thirty deaths occurring as people were crushed in their homes. Many more would have suffered the same had they not been at evening prayers at the church there, which was a small building that was not seriously damaged. • In 1838; the population of Rmaish was described as being
Greek Orthodox Christians and • In 1839, Rmaish fought side by side with the Shiite of the neighbouring villages against the Egyptian army which ended by the withdrawal of the Egyptian army after suffering heavy losses. • In 1840, Daher El Choufani led Rmaish in another battle against the Egyptian army. When the Ottoman Empire entered the war, they forced everyone between 18 and 60 years to fight in the Turkish army. People from Rmeish were forced to fight in Bulgaria, Istanbul and the Suez Canal in Egypt. Between 20 and 30 never came back from the war and no one knew anything about them till today. In 1875
Victor Guérin found Rmaish to be inhabited by 500
Maronites, all impoverished. He observed that although the village appears to be relatively new—and according to its elders, it hasn't reached its hundred-year and five mark yet—it is located on the site of an earlier settlement. In 1881, the
PEF's
Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) described Rumeish: "A stone and mud village, containing about 500 Christians; there is a Christian church; it is situated in the plain, with two large birkets and
cisterns, surrounded by arable land and having some vineyards." Rmaish suffered from many natural disasters, the most significant one was the earthquake of 1837 when an earthquake hit the village killing 35. The rest of the people were praying in the church that day and therefore were protected by the strong building of the church. Rmeich was hit by few other earthquakes in 1887, 1888 and 1927 which caused the destruction of many houses without any casualties. At the start of the 20th century, Rmaish saw emigration on a large scale to South America, especially to Argentina and Brazil, due to the high taxes imposed by the Ottoman Empire. It is believed that around 100 left to Argentina between 1905 and 1914.
French Mandate A petition was sent by all villages in south Lebanon to the Reconciliation Conference in Paris in 1919 asking for Rmaish and other villages to be included within Lebanon. The following is the petition: "We call on the agreement and unanimity we, the residents of Tyre district of Shiites and Christians of forty thousands to be included in the State of Greater Lebanon for the following reasons: First, the Shiites of us are people form Sidon, Tyre, Marjayoun, El Rihan, Eklim El Kharoub and Hermel who truly want to join their nation. Second, Christians of us are of Lebanese origin and their ancestors came from the north to south. To the day they are relatives and want to join them."
Massacre of 1920 After the Shia Conference of El-Hujair rejected
Greater Lebanon and pledged allegiance to
King Faisal, an act the Maronites of
Jabal Amel perceived as a threat, a Shia gang led by Mahmoud Bazzi emerged, moving from brigandage to direct confrontation with French forces and the Christian their allies in the south, attacked
Ain Ebel on 5 May 1920, pillaging and killing more than 50 people. It appears that the gangs responded to a call for
jihad. After the attackers abandoned themselves in the violence, massacring children in the arms of their parents before killing them, raping young women and then killing them, and burning people who were still alive, they moved to the other Christian villages,
Debel and Rmaish, killing and pillaging, so after 12 days of plundering and massacres, the French arrived and suppressed all activities in
Jabal Amil region. While awaiting their return to the village, a soldier serving with English forces reportedly urged the villagers to sell their properties to Zionist buyers, citing the lack of any guarantee of return; however, the villagers unanimously refused. This incident illustrates the broader pressures faced by Christian communities in the Tyre district to relinquish their land and emigrate. The massacres hardened Maronite opinion in favor of Jabal Amil being part of Greater Lebanon, which borders were cemented at the
San Remo conference in 1920. During the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, Rmaish received hundreds of
Palestinian refugees,, including from the village of
Sha'ab. By late October and early November of the same year, refugees from other Palestinian villages, such as
Al-Mansura and
Kfar Bir'im sought refuge in Rmaish and Ain Ebel. In mid-July 1976, Israel launched the
Good Fence policy, opening boarder gates in Rmaish and
Kfar Kila the following month. The
Palestine Liberation Organization largely overlooked Israel’s shift to overt intervention in South Lebanon, remaining indifferent to its activities while focusing instead on political influence and rivalries over controlling food and aid distribution, ultimately imposing a total blockade on Rmaish, Debel, and
Ain Ebel that forced residents to rely on the Good Fence policy for essential supplies. During the conflict, the village witnessed ferocious battles with missiles destroying many houses and orchards and leaving the townspeople besieged and without bread for three weeks.
Community opposition to Hezbollah activities In 2022, structures built by
Hezbollah near Rmaish, encroaching on properties owned by the Ameel, Alam, and Hajj families, were reported. This development angered local residents, municipal authorities, and religious leaders, leading to pressure from Maronite Patriarch
Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, who accused Hezbollah of encroachment. As a result, Hezbollah agreed to dismantle the structures, which were also a violation of
UNSC Resolution 1701. Hezbollah's efforts to establish military infrastructure in Rmaish led again to clashes with local residents, causing fear and displacement among the predominantly Christian population. Many women and children fled, leaving behind men who faced insecurity and potential looting. The Lebanese government was criticized for allowing Hezbollah to operate with impunity, thereby endangering local communities and exacerbating regional instability. Like most of the
Christian population of
South Lebanon, Rmeish residents are opposed to Hezbollah's presence in the area.
2026 Hezbollah-Israel war On March 2, 2026, Rmaish was once again caught in the midst of a regional
war when
Hezbollah, the
Iranian-allied
proxy in
Lebanon, launched strikes on Israel in response to
the killing of Iranian supreme leader
Ali Khamenei. The residents of the village, along with those of
Ain Ebel and
Debel, defied Israeli evacuation and displacement orders, as they had done in 2024. Heavy Israeli strikes against Hezbollah positions around Rmaish,
Ain Ebel, and
Debel severely restricted movement in the area, with travel between the villages requiring coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces or the
United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), although both the UN and Lebanese officials were often unable to secure individual civilian movements without an international mechanism involving the United States, France, and Israel. On April 22, a wounded Hezbollah militant fled to Rmeish and was treated by emergency responders in the village, while Israeli forces repeatedly demanded he be handed over, threatening to evacuate the village when officials in Rmeish refused to hand over the young man. After continuous threats and demands, and after the IDF spoke directly to him, the injured man agreed to surrender to spare the village and left on foot toward a designated location, ultimately surrendering to the Israeli army. ==Public services==