Throughout the Ayyubid and Mamluk periods, al-Rahba was situated near the tribal territory of the Al Fadl. About four hundred Al Fadl tribesmen joined the small army of Caliph al-Mustansir, the Egypt-based Abbasid caliph dispatched by Baybars to recapture Baghdad from the Mongols, when he reached al-Rahba. The latter was al-Mustansir's first stop after he rode out from Damascus, but his campaign ultimately failed and he was killed in a Mongol ambush in al-Anbar. The Mongols of Ilkhanid Iraq inflicted significant damage on al-Rahba during their wars with the Mamluks. The fortress was restored by Baybars at some point toward the end of his reign. In 1279, the Mamluk viceroy of Syria, Sunqur al-Ashqar, rebelled against Sultan Qalawun () and took refuge with the Al Fadl chieftain, Isa ibn Muhanna, at al-Rahba, where he requested the intervention of the Mongol ruler Abaqa Khan. When the Mongols could not help him, Sunqur fled the incoming Mamluk army, while Isa barricaded himself in the fortress. The Mongols' failure to capture al-Rahba after a month-long siege commanded by the Ilkhanid ruler Öljaitü in 1312/13 marked the Ilkhanate's final attempt to invade Mamluk Syria. Isa's son Muhanna rebelled against Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad () in 1320, and was pursued by the Mamluk army as far al-Rahba. During the ensuing confrontation, the fortress may have been destroyed.