There's a Mary Stewart novel set somewhere near Beirut (it's the ULTIMATE Gothic girl-meets-house novel, given the house in question is part crusader castle, part middle-eastern pasha's retreat complete with harems and secret passages and an indoor lake)

Oh, my God, The Gabriel Hounds (1967). I haven't read or thought of that book in years, but I remember discovering that Lady Hester Stanhope was a real person and that did nothing to decrease the weirdness of this entire plot.