 For decades, part of this complex was misidentified as a Byzantine-era (c. 330-620 CE) synagogue; excavations carried out in 2010 confirmed an architectural analysis made by Donald Whitcomb in 2002 suggesting the building to be the "qasr" of al-Sinnabra.Constructed in the 7th century by Mu'awiya and Abdel Malik, another Umayyad caliph who also commissioned the building of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, it likely represents the earliest Umayyad complex of this type yet to be discovered.During the Crusades, it was the site of the 1113 Battle of Al-Sannabra, and in the lead up to the Battle of Hittin in 1187, Saladin and his forces passed through al-Sinnabra before moving on to command the roads around Kafr Sabt.