The site is an excellent defensive location and was used since the Phoenicians. It controls the passage between the coastal area of Lattakia and the plains of the Orontes river.

Byzantines built the first consistent fortifications of the site in the second half of the 10th century.  

Crusaders took the citadel in 1119 and was later in the possession Robert de Saône a local seigneur. 

Unlike the other crusader's major strongholds Saône was never entrusted to the Knights hospitallers. 

It was the most powerful castle of the Antioch principality until the Sultan Saladin overtook it after few days of siege in July 1188.