The reciprocal attacks by Muslims and Franks across their enemy's frontiers became more devastating and more frequent during the 1180s. The Muslims' military successes encouraged them to assail the Franks deep within their territory and to deploy better siege engines in their siege-fare. At the same time, the Franks were on the defence and on many occasions avoided any direct confrontation with the Muslim forces.

A two-year truce, described by William of Tyre as ‘unprecedented’ and as ‘somewhat humiliating to us’, was concluded ‘on equal terms, with no reservations of importance on our [Frankish] part’ in the spring of 1180, as the consequence of a five-year drought which had affected the whole region. The truce, proposed by the Franks, was to be observed on land and sea and valid for foreigners and natives alike (tam per mare quam per terras tam advenis quam indigenis). However, it followed a raid on the region of Safad mounted by the ruler of Baalbek one month earlier, in April 1180. Both sides violated the truce. Salah al-Din is reported as plundering the area of Hisn al-Akrad (Crac des Chevaliers) in 1180, probably because the County of Tripoli was not included in the truce, but a year later, in 1181, his nephew Farrukh-Shah invaded the territory of Karak, justifying his effort as an attempt to abort Reynald of Châtillon's plan to assail the Hijaz.