No surprises there.
Syria is a secular totalitarian state. House Assad went to war against the Muslim Brotherhood in the early eighties and even bombarded to rubble and massacred an entire town that had rebelled.
The muzzie fanatics still hate the Assads. Bashar and his henchmen may funnel money and arms from Iran to the likes of Hezbollah and Hamas but their brand of islam is for EXPORT only. There is no power allowed in Syria but the all-encompassing state.
Just google “Hama”. Syria’s rulers have kept it just as it was ever since as a warning to others.
Exactly as you said, no surprise at all.
I recall a story some Syrian friends of mine told about Hafez Assad having the headscarves of female students forcibly removed some time ago. The Assads are members of a minority Muslim sect called the Alawites but keep a lid on Muslim extremism, or try to.