Per Arab sources, Muslims first fortified the site in 1062, which the infobox gives as the build date. It lay in the Principality of Antioch after the First Crusade, and Bertrand, son of Rainald II Masoir, sold it to the Hospitallers in 1186. They expanded it into their Syrian headquarters.
The body calls it a large spur castle with many concentric features. It stands on an extinct volcano about 1,180 feet (360 m) above sea level. A bent entrance runs through a gate tower, a large circular tower is often called a donjon, and a large outer ward gives it more area than Krak des Chevaliers. The infobox lists basalt.
Saladin withdrew in 1188. The Mamluk sultan Qalawun besieged it from April 17, 1285, a mine destroyed a southern salient, and the defenders surrendered on May 23. Reconstruction began in 2007, and the February 2023 earthquake damaged it.
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