North Korea on Sunday condemned the deadliest attack on Syrian government forces in almost a decade as part of “hostile” forces’ efforts to overthrow the Bashar Assad regime, highlighting the close friendship between the two countries amid a changing political landscape.

Following Thursday’s drone strike on the Homs Military Academy’s graduation ceremony, a foreign ministry spokesperson reaffirmed Pyongyang’s solidarity with the Syrian government in a statement published by the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Monday.