While there are no records of the original date of the establishment of the village, its history largely follows the history of Lebanon marked by various invading armies over several millennia, and by the feudal system that was the norm during the Ottoman occupation. The Bekaa Valley was a Byzantine stronghold until the Islamic conquest. After the arrival of Islam, many parts of Mount Lebanon, notably the Keserwan, were inhabited by a Shiite population that enjoyed the patronage of the Fatimids. With the arrival of the Crusades and the Mamluks during the 12th and 13th centuries, the Shiites fled to the Bekaa where they remain today especially in the northern parts (notably the Baalbeck region). With the arrival of the Ottomans in the 16th century, the Bekaa region was made part of the vilayet of Damascus.