Im aware that he is not a socialist by any means but i watched some interviews of him and he does have some good takes on US imperialism and the Western Hegemony but i also recall hearing that he did some pretty shady stuff but i cant remember any specifics....Im generally supportive of leaders who try to free their countries of the boots of the US even when they're not socialist per se but this Assad guy seems a little off
I think Egypt, Libya, Iraq and Syria had the same motivation, kill out the monarchy and establish a kind of welfare state but without a proper ideology it went into mayhem after Nasser's death. (USSR saved Nasser though). Syria's misfortune began during Arab Spring when liberals wanted a western style democracy and sought help for ISIS but the radicals took over and the rest is history. Iraq had a complicated relationship with USSR and west. US funded Saddam hussein to gas Iranians because US feared the Islamic clergy who were die hard enemies of Saudi house and Muslim Brotherhood. I think you should know Syria and Iran are like relatives. Assad is an alwyite muslim and have strong relations with Iran.