As one Middle Eastern official put it, "Saudi Arabia's problem is that the kingdom's enemies know it wants to avoid war. "This is all very concerning and is exactly what Saudi Arabia wanted to avoid," said Aziz al-Ghashian, a Saudi analyst and ​senior non-resident fellow at the Gulf International Forum. Last week, it announced the joint ​defence agreement with Turkey and Pakistan in Makkah. Islamabad, under ⁠its pre-existing defence pact with Saudi Arabia, had sought to avoid becoming engaged militarily with Iran or its allies and managed to do so despite Saudi Arabia facing hundreds of missile and drone attacks. Saudi Arabia wants to announce its official formation as soon as possible, with meetings planned this week in Jeddah.