While I'm a firm atheist, Assad jettisoned all pretense of Baathist/secular ideology a decade if not longer ago in favor of simply doing whatever it takes to stay in power. The atrocities perpetrated by Assad's regime were far larger in scale than anything that ISIS ever managed, half a million people (on all sides) have died since 2013.

My opinion is that of my ex-colleague who had to flight Syria and has some strong words about Assad.

There’s no “tyranny for good reason”.

Yeah, I bet people of Aleppo really will really miss those secular bombs landing on them, just as political prisoners will miss those secular beatings.

Is a secular dictatorship that tortures its opponents any better than a theocracy that tortures its opponents?

If your balls are getting crushed by the secret police, does it really matter if they do so in the name of Allah or Assad?

I am as secular as they come, but I see no difference here. The root problem for me is the tyranny itself, and not its particular ideological flavor.

ah, only your opinion is valid?