In 1838, Eli Smith noted both Reyak and Haush Hala as Christian villages in the Baalbek area.[3]
Prior to 1914 there was a broad-gauge railway from Aleppo through Hama and Homs which reached the Beirut to Damascus narrow-gauge line at Riyaq. Both railways were built and owned by French companies.[4]
During the First World War, the military airport was built by German troops. In 1918, the British army bombed the railway station and destroyed it.
On August 7, 1933, two French aviators (Maurice Rossi and Paul Codos), aboard a Blériot 110, broke the world record for straight-line distance. They landed in Rayak after covering a distance of 9,104 km without stopping, in 55 hours, from New York.
During the Syria campaign in July 1941, the British bombed the French base and Rayak depots held by Vichy regime troops.
The first Free French fighter squadron (Alsace Fighter Group) was created there on September 15, 1941.
In September 1942, General de Gaulle visited the pilots at the Rayak base, and the No. 3 Normandie Fighter Group (the future Normandie-Niémen) was established there the following month.
Hawker Hurricane of the Royal Australian Air Force at Rayak in 1942.
On October 10, 1943, the 3/3 Ardennes Fighter Squadron was born there. The Lebanese Air Force was created on June 1, 1949.
A French M10 Wolverine tank destroyer from the 3rd Squadron of the Colonial Tank Hunter Regiment (RCCC) was named Rayak during the Second World War.
The Lebanese Civil War from 1975 to 1990 interrupted all railway traffic. In 2002, an attempt to restore the Rayak-Damascus link failed.
