Assad is absolutely not a good guy. He inherited his position, as ruler of Syria, from his father after his older brother died in a automobile accident. While ostensible claiming to rule under the ideology of Baathism, he uses strong state control to enforce his own will. His family and close supporter hold all major positions in the government. The country has no free speech and criticism of the Assad family can land you in jail or much much worse. His family also systematically loots the state finances. The Baathist ideology that his family pushes isn't really a socialist system because the people don't have a say in the economy. It's more of fascism masquerading as a nationalistic socialist.

Also he's anti-imperialistic, but he definitely doesn't want the Kurds to get any sort of autonomy. He's anti-imperialistic in the same way American was right after the War of Independence.