http://www.aawsat.net/2013/08/article55315390
A publication funded by the Saudi royal family isn't going to have an editorial policy favoring Alawite apostates, let alone one, like Assad, that rules over Sunni Arabs. This paper was, as one might expect, opposed to the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel in the 1970's:
After the news of the paper's first big scoop (regarding the formation of the U.S. Central Command for the Middle East), the still new newspaper made its name through the controversy surrounding the Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty.[8]
In the face of widespread criticism from contributors and staff toward the Camp David Accords and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Cairo bureau chief Salah al Din Hafez resigned. Then, Sadat held a press conference with the new Asharq Al Awsat bureau chief by his side in which the Egyptian president attacked the newspaper and its stance toward the peace process in general, citing his suspicions of the bureau chief's "high" salary, and accusing Prince Fahd of using the newspaper as a weapon against Egypt and the Egyptian president personally.[8]