“umors have it Assad is a closet Christian.”
Baloney. Assad is Alawite, a sect of Shia.
The Christian minority in Syria has always been close to the Alawite and Assad out of mutual protection and alliance, not theology. Assad trusts the Christians because he knows they have no power base and need his protection. Similarly, Assad is a megalomaniac, but not a religious whack job, and the Syrian Christians give him support.
How Assad a megalomaniac? Why because he will not let the Saudi Arabian build a pipeline through Syria?
Whatever be your reasons I rather see Assad there than ISIS.
The U.S. should Allie with Syria and Russia to finish off ISIS.