It is situated on the southern edge of the Ghab plain and by the western bank of the Orontes River.

It is also the center of a nahiyah ("subdistrict"), part of the Al-Suqaylabiyah District, consisting of 18 localities and with a combined population of 38,783 in 2004.

[3] The town was the traditional seat of the Jnaid clan, which typically provided the leaders of the Alawite Kalbiyya confederation.

[4] In 1978 a 5,200 square metres (56,000 sq ft) sugar refinery was built in Tell Salhab at a cost of $50 million.

The refinery complex boasted a sugar beet silo, a washing plant, pulp presses and dryers, and a water reservoir.