Assad has 3 large religious groups in Syria; Christians, Sunni Muslims and Shi'a Muslims. Assad created an environment where all respected each other and lived in relative harmony ... until Obummer and Killary decided to destroy him in the "Arab Spring". Assad's only alternative at the time was to reach out to Putin for help to save his country. Assad used to appear personally in interviews quite often on American TV until about 20 years ago. He always seemed pragmatic and reasonable to me, loved his country and all its peoples.