The Tibnine Castle or Toron of the Knights was a very important Crusader castle, built in the mountains of Lebanon on the road connecting Tyre to Damascus. The castle was at the center of the Toron lordship. The lordship itself, which was part of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, was a rear-vassalage of the Principality of Galilee.
French archaeologist and academic Victor Guérin believed that the town where the castle is located has always been a fortified city: "...everything leads us to believe that, in the Judaic era and perhaps even in the Canaanite era, Tibnin, due to its advantageous position in the heart of the country, was already a fortified city," he said.
Its position had indeed many advantages (Toron means "isolated hill" in Old French), and the castle was coveted by many armies, such as that of Saladin at the end of the 12th century. It was destroyed and rebuilt several times: its current remains probably do not correspond to its original construction.
