Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

312 • ISLAMIC JIHAD IN THE HIJAZmaintained it was not the work of native nationals. On 26 August1987 Hezbollah in the Hijaz announced it intended to attack U.S.and Saudi targets to force the removal of U.S. bases from Arabia.On 3 September 1987 the commander of the Islamic RevolutionaryGuards Corps announced that Hezbollah in the Hijaz was planningto attack U.S. and Saudi interests worldwide. Given that both thenames “Hezbollah” and “Islamic Jihad” have been given to thesame militia under IRGC direction within Lebanon, the role of theIRGC commander in acting as a spokesman for Hezbollah in theHijaz strongly indicates that the latter group was also under IRGCdirection and most likely identical to the group that later identifieditself as Islamic Jihad in the Hijaz.In 1987 four indigenous Saudi Shi’ites who set fire to the Sadafpetrochemical plant in Jubayl in al Hasa Province were arrested andexecuted by the Saudis. On 26 April 1988 Saudi Arabia severed diplomaticrelations with Iran and greatly reduced the size of the Hajjpilgrimage contingent permitted to the Iranians. On 21 September1989 Saudi Arabia executed 16 Kuwaitis for having carried out twobombings on behalf of Iran in the July 1988 Hajj season, from whichIranian participation had been largely excluded. Later, on 30 September1988, four more Saudi Shi’ites were executed for sabotage in theeastern province, which became the pretext for the murder of Maliki,the third secretary of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Thailand.While the eastern province of Saudi Arabia is far more valuableeconomically and far more vulnerable given the larger concentrationof Shi’ites and the maritime proximity of Iran, the western provinceis much more valuable in the eyes of the Iranian regime as holdingthe two most holy cities in Islam, Mecca and Medina. Whoever rulesover the Hijaz may claim the title of Protector of the Two Holy Places,which implies a preeminence among Muslim rulers. Ayatollah RuhallahKhomeini and other Shi’ite clergymen have resented Saudi possessionof the Hijaz since this gives preeminence to a dynasty linkedto the Wahhabi sect within Islam, whose followers have anathematizedthe Shi’ites as heretics and apostates and who have sacked anddestroyed Shi’ite shrines in Karbala, Iraq, and the Arabian Peninsulaas well as killing Shi’ite pilgrims in the 19th and early 20th centuries.Therefore, the implied claim that Khomeini had indigenous followerswithin the Hijaz could serve to boost the prestige of Iran’s credentialsof Islamic leadership throughout the Muslim world.