Syria was on the whole anti-American at the time. Hafez Assad played ball with the Soviets, thats when they got their Naval base (Tartus in 1971). He opposed pro-western groups in Lebanon. He hosted numerous Palestinian terrorist groups, some Islamic, others pro-Soviet communist. He hosted other Soviet-aligned terrorist assets (as did Gaddafi). It is rather hard to see this guy as “friendly”.
He got a White House visit under Clinton I saw them shaking hands