Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has contracted North Korean pilots, having “lost faith” in his own pilots, former president of the opposition Syrian National Council Burhan Ghalioun said on Sunday.

In a statement on his Facebook page Ghalioun said that Assad was hiring North Koreans to “lead his air offensives” against civilians.

Ghaloiun led the Syrian National Council, one of several groups in opposition to President Bashar Al Assad, from August 2011 to June 2012.

Editor of NK Leadership Watch Michael Madden told NK News that North Korea “derives financial and institutional benefits from escalating its participation in Syria” and is “likely