US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the coalition would include Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and other countries.
The United States has announced the deployment of a multinational force to protect trade in the Red Sea after a series of attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen forced several shipping companies to suspend operations.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday that Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Seychelles and the United Kingdom would be among the countries joining the 10-nation “multinational security initiative.”
“Countries that want to uphold the fundamental principle of freedom of navigation must come together to address the challenge posed by this non-state actor,” Austin said in a statement, describing the attacks as an issue that “requires collective action.”
The announcement came after the US and British navies said over the weekend that their destroyers had shot down a total of 15 drones in the waterway.
The Iran-aligned Houthis have increased drone and missile attacks on ships on key shipping routes since the start of the war in Gaza, targeting ships believed to have ties to Israel or Israelis.
The rebel group said on Monday it attacked the Norwegian Swan Atlantic and the MSC Clara with naval drones to show solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Swan Atlantic's owner, Norwegian company Inventor Chemical Tankers, said in a statement that the ship had no connection to Israel and was managed by a Singaporean company.
No injuries were reported from either ship.
Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official and spokesman, told Al Jazeera on Monday that the group would confront any US-led coalition in the Red Sea.
Other countries should be included
The coalition could also include Egypt and Jordan as additional Arab nations alongside Bahrain as they have a vested interest in ensuring the safe passage of ships, Al Jazeera's Sara Khairat said in a report from occupied East Jerusalem.
“It is not yet clear whether they will join later. Egypt and Jordan as well as some of the Gulf states [Gulf Cooperation Council] Countries, including Saudi Arabia, are part of the Combined Maritime Forces, under which the coalition will operate,” Khairat reported.
“If you read between the lines, it is a very difficult situation for some of these countries in the Middle East. There is Saudi Arabia, which appears to be close to signing an agreement with the Houthi rebels in Yemen,” she added.
“There is Egypt that does not want to give the impression that it is violating the Houthis' message to Gaza, which is that Israel ends the war against the enclave.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a phone call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Monday about the issue and discussed ways to avoid further conflict.
Blinken “condemned the Houthis' ongoing attacks on commercial vessels operating in international waters in the southern Red Sea and called on all partners to work together to ensure maritime security,” the US State Department said in a statement after the call.
Austin, who visited Israel, is scheduled to hold talks in Bahrain and Qatar on Tuesday.
Companies avoid the Red Sea
At least twelve shipping companies, including Italian-Swiss giant Mediterranean Shipping Company, France's CMA CGM and Denmark's AP Moller-Maersk, have suspended transit through the Red Sea for safety reasons.
British oil giant BP on Monday became the latest company to announce it would avoid the waters.
“In light of the deteriorating shipping security situation in the Red Sea, BP has decided to temporarily suspend all transits through the Red Sea,” the company said in a statement.
“We will continue to review this precautionary pause, subject to evolving circumstances in the region.”
Houthi attacks have effectively redirected a significant portion of global trade by forcing cargo companies to circumnavigate Africa, leading to higher costs and delays in the delivery of energy, food and consumer goods.
About 12 percent of world trade passes through the Red Sea, which is connected to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal, including 30 percent of container traffic.