In the Abbasid era, the writings of travelers and geographers began to describe the city of Tyre, and one of the first one to do so was Ibn al-Faqih al-Hamdani, who only said: “Tyre: its input is to Damascus, and its output is to Jordan.” Ka’b al-Ahbar said: “Whoever among you wants to collect his religion and his worldly affairs for him, then he should go to Tyre.” And after Isa bin al-Sheikh - the Wali of Palestine - was able to defeat al-Muwafaq al-Khairi in the year 251 AH/865 AD, he asked the Abbasid Caliph, Al-Musta'īnubillāh, to write to the ruler of Tyre, ordering four boats with all their vessels to be at his disposal.

So he sent the two faqihs: “Ismail bin Abdullah Al-Marwazi” and “Muhammad bin Obaidullah Al-Karizi Al-Qadi”, and he sent with them his messenger “Al-Hussain Al-Khadim” known as “The Sweat of Death”, they offered Ghaban al-Sheikh to leave the Levant in safety and take over an Armenian country, so he agreed, and he left Tyre by the coastal road to his state between 256 - 257 AH / 870 AD.

After Damascus, he completed the subjugation of the cities of the Levant: Homs and Hama, and his sons and commanders took over.

Baalbek sided with Lu'lu', the Emir of Homs, who disobeyed his master by supporting the Caliph (Al-Mu'tamid) and his brother (Al-Muwaffaq).

Tannus al-Shidyaq's chronicles mention that in the 9th century there was an organized Christian, likely Maronite, community in Kisrawan governed by a village headmen.