The Mussaylha Fort is constructed on a long, narrow limestone rock near the river Nahr el-Jawz. The Fort has been studied by numbers of scholars for its history and architecture. However evidence is inconclusive as to whether the rock on which the Fort stands was used since early times as a military station.

The Fort does not include in its current construction any element that could be related to an earlier period, even to the Crusaders. The year 1624 is established by both historians and eye witnesses as the constuction date of Mussaylha by Fakhr ed-Dine II.