[1] In 1966, Lorraine Copeland and Peter J. Wescombe published the discovery of prehistoric artifacts from two sites in Tibnin: Acheulean bifacial axes on the road from Tyre, which are preserved at The American University of Beirut, dated to the Lower Palaeolithic; and Stone Age megaliths from the road between Tebnin and Beit Yahum, records of them being preserved at the Institut de paléontologie humaine [fr] in Paris.

[3] Scholars have identified Tibnin as the town of Tafnis (תפניס) mentioned in the Jerusalem Talmud[4] as a northern border of the kingdom of Judah.

"[11][12][13] British historian Jonathan Riley-Smith mentions that the customs house below the castle levied no duty on merchants travelling with Ibn Jubair because they were travelling towards the port of Acre, and hence concluded that King Baldwin III's officials were stationed there, even though the fortress was not in his royal domain,[14] which meant that Tibnin was an important stop on the roads between Tyre, Damascus and Jerusalem.

The fertile land of Tibnin made it one of the granaries of the Crusader kingdom,[15] and under Humphrey III of Toron (died 1173), the lordship had its own coinage, minted of red copper and stamped "CASTRI TORONI".

After the Battle of Hattin in 1187, Saladin saw no threat of a Christian army in the foreseeable future and sent his nephew and most celebrated general, Al-Muzaffar Umar, north to besiege the castle of Toron for three days.

Soon the Frankish nobles conceded the surrender of the castle, and Saladin allowed them five days[16] to make a safe passage to Tyre with their fortunes and families.

Ibn al-Athir, the famous Arab historian, winks that a lot of the rumors circulating in Tebnine about what the crusaders would do if the castle was taken by assault, came from none other than other Frankish lords who were not very happy to see a successful campaign led by king Amalric II of Jerusalem, added to the fact that most of them had forged alliances with the sultan Al-Kamil of Egypt and were in no hurry to see it obliterated over some revolting massacres committed in Tebnin.

In February 1198, under the threat of the looming Ayyubid army, and the war of succession in Germany between Philip of Swabia and Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor, the German forces ended the siege of Tibnin when the Chancellor and his princes abandoned their men to their fate outside the gates of Toron, as described by Helmold von Bosau.

In 1229, under the pressure of king Frederick II's Sixth Crusade, Egyptians sultan Al-Kamil who was Saladin's brother, returned the Seigneurie (lordship) of Toron (Tibnin) to the Franks.

However, the High Court of the Kingdom of Jerusalem forced Emperor Frederick II to admit the rights of Alice of Armenia, "being the niece of Humphrey IV and heiress of the fief of Tibnīn.

"[22] This placed the lordship of Tibnin in the hands of the French baron Philip of Montfort, who arrived in Upper Galilee as one of the few knights to make it to the Holy Land in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade, which had been initially launched under the leadership of Theobald of Champagne and had ended by conquering Constantinople.

It was from Tibnin that Philip of Montfort would contemplate ways to seize Tyre from the hands of Richard Filangieri, who was the confidant of Frederick II.

Many of the existing families of Tibnin have a background makeup of Phoenician, European and Arab[citation needed] due to ranging influences in the region over centuries.

The villagers paid a taxes on cultural products, such as s wheat, barley, summer crops, fruit trees, goats and beehives, in addition to "occasional revenues"; a total of 8,900 akçe.

Their reign lasted until the tyrant Jezzar Pasha ascended to power in Acre in the eighteenth century, who with the aid of the obedient emir Bashir Shihab II, crushed 'al-Saghir's autonomous feudal system in the area and kicked their men out of Tibnine.

Morris describes the enchanting beauty of the town, and despite being certain that his credentials would ensure him being lodged in the castle by the pasha living there, he takes up residence with one of the families in the village, and mentions the tyranny with which the Ottoman troops treated the locals.

Adham Khanjar attempted to recruit followers in Tebnin and may have had some success initially due to the desire of some among the locals who wished unity with Syria.

In 1921, Under orders from Henri Gouraud, the occupying French forces in Lebanon responded to sectarian clashes in the south with a massive campaign targeting Shiite villagers.

The spirit of revolt was being slowly stewing for some time and it came to a head when the collaborators with French set up a market in Tebnine to sell the goods that were confiscated from the surrounding villages.

Leading up to the civil war, like most of the surrounding area, the town was grounds to para-military actions carried out by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): The Palestinian guerrilla fighters enjoyed widespread support after the 1967 war and for a short period past the 1968 Cairo accord, which granted the PLO free range in Southern Lebanon to carry out missions aimed at liberating Palestine.

At the end of the civil war, Amal handed over its heavy weapons to the National Lebanese Army and largely discontinued its resistance work against the occupying Israelis.

[36] Tibnin enjoys a temperate climate which is characteristic of south Lebanon: Mild rainy winters and arid summers with a few excessively warm days.

According to The Survey Of Western Palestine, Hugh was also responsible for the construction of the fortification found on a steep hill east of Tibnine, an area still called "Al Hosn" ('the fortress') to this day.

[citation needed] In 2012, funding from the EU allowed Tibnin to celebrate its Heritage Festival in the old castle, where lighting had been refurbished by the French troops of UNIFIL.

With its historic castle and South Lebanon's history of occupiers and conquerors that include Alexander the Great, Tibnin has the potential to be a monumental tourist attraction in more peaceful times.

Tibnin has several provincial institutions such as a governmental hospital, a police station, post office as well as touristic sites such as cafes and commercial shops.