“This is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has named Pakistan as part of its military alliances without Islamabad’s knowledge and consent,” the Dawn correspondent Baqir Sajjad Syed reported. “The Saudis earlier named Pakistan as part of the coalition that carried out operations in Yemen and a Pakistani flag was displayed at the alliance’s media center. Pakistan later declined to join the Yemen war.”

Nine months of war between a Saudi-led military coalition and a Yemeni rebel group have left thousands of civilians dead, and appears to have given rise to a new branch of the Islamic State.

The formation of the new, Saudi-led alliance, announced by Mohammed bin Salman, the 30-year-old deputy crown prince who also serves as defense minister, appears to have caught more than one nation off guard.