Canada is providing three staff officers as its contribution to Operation Prosperity Guardian, the U.S.-led coalition that will defend commercial shipping from attacks by Yemen‘s Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.

Canada is one of nine countries recruited to join the naval task force that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said “share a commitment to freedom of navigation.” The Pentagon said the coalition will conduct joint patrols in the southern Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Defense officials in Ottawa said the three unidentified staff officers will deploy as early as next week to the region under Operation Artemis, Canada’s ongoing mission to support peace and security in the Middle East.

“Canada seeks to support the rules-based international order and ensure the security of some of the world’s busiest and most vital waterways,” Canadian officials said Monday in a statement. “The 1958 Convention on the High Seas protects the freedom of navigation on the high seas for all States. Safeguarding this widely-accepted law bolsters the rules-based international order, as Canada is committed to doing.”

The Pentagon said the United Kingdom, Bahrain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain were the other countries participating in Prosperity Guardian. U.S. defense officials didn’t say whether the other members of the mostly European task force would provide warships or personnel, as Canada is doing.

Several shipping companies said they will suspend travel through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint that links the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, until security there improves.

Yemen‘s Iran-linked Houthis launched their campaign in a show of support for the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza. In a helicopter raid on Nov. 19, they seized the Galaxy Leader, a British-owned and Japanese-operated cargo carrier, passing through the strait. The ship and its 25-member crew are still being held in Yemen.

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.