Special to WorldTribune.com

NICOSIA — The opposition has reported that the Syrian military was using North Korean pilots in attacks on Sunni rebels.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights asserted that the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has recruited pilots from North Korea for the war against the rebels.

The London-based opposition group said at least 15 North Koreans were flying attack helicopter missions against rebel strongholds.

The reports were not confirmed by Western diplomats. Earlier in 2013, diplomats said Iran and Russia were helping direct air strikes on the rebels in central and northern Syria.

“Reports have claimed that Syrian leader Bashar Assad has brought in 15 helicopter pilots from North Korea in fear that his own pilots might defect,” Syrian Observatory said.

An opposition figure said Assad contracted the North Koreans to help in air strikes. Former Syrian National Council leader Burhan Ghalioun said Assad has lost trust in Syrian Air Force pilots.

A leading U.S. intelligence analyst has detailed North Korean programs
in Syria. Bruce Bechtol, a former analyst for the Defense Intelligence
Agency, said Pyongyang has been supplying chemical weapons to Damascus for
20 years.

“They have North Korean advisers living there, and in fact, there is a
very posh North Korean facility that the Syrians maintain for them 365 days
a year,” Bechtol said in an interview with Radio Free Asia.

“And, at least at one of the facilities, not only do the North Koreans help them with the materials needed to fabricate these warheads and artillery shells, but they actually have the missiles. The North Koreans help the Syrians marry up these weapons with Scud missiles.”

The Assad regime has been an ally of North Korea for more than 30 years.
Pyongyang was said to have supplied and co-produced ballistic missile
systems, included the extended-range Scud C and D, as well as helped
construct a secret nuclear facility destroyed by Israel in 2007.

Earlier in 2013, Syrian Observatory reported the presence of North
Korean officers in Syrian Army units around Aleppo. The opposition group
said up to 15 North Korean officers were advising Assad’s forces on military
operations on rebel strongholds in Syria’s largest city.

  Aleppo, Bruce Bechtol, chemwar advisors housed in ‘posh’ quarters, Report from Syria: N. Korean pilots, Syrian National Council, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights