Relations between the two countries improved in the mid-1980s, but suddenly took a negative turn in 1987 after a violent episode during the Mecca pilgrimage of that year.

In August 1987, an explosion occurred at a petroleum facility in Ra's al-Ju'ayma and in March the following year a petrochemical industry in Jubail was attacked.

[5][6] Although formally not a partner to the agreement and even voicing disagreements with it, Hizbullah al-Hejaz members were included in the amnesty and the organization generally abided by its terms.

The organization's members mainly refrained from overt opposition politics and concentrated on religious, social and educational activities.

[1] In June 1996, a massive truck bomb exploded outside the US Air Force base at Khobar in eastern Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American soldiers and wounding several hundred.

From its founding in 1987, the Hezbollah al-Hejaz group had advocated violence and perpetrated several terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia during late 1980s.

A series of crackdowns launched by the Saudi government after the Khobar Towers bombing almost completely eradicated the organization.

Thomas Hegghammer asserted that, during that period, al-Qaeda lacked the sufficient technical capacity to launch such an extensive attack.

[13] The alleged head of the military wing of Hezbollah al-Hejaz, Ahmed Ibrahim Al-Mughassil, who was suspected of involvement in the Khobar bombing, was reportedly captured in Beirut in August 2015 and transferred to Saudi Arabia.