Your correct 100%. Bashar al Assad never promoted shia islam in Syria, he was like a secular person who was arab nationalist and Baathist. I am not saying he was good or bad but the sectarian angle was not there. So many top western sunni scholars used to visit Syria for Islamic studies.
I always wanted to visit Syria, feel heart broken.
One point for all PDF members to note is, back in the days when Iraq was attacked to kill Saddam Hussein, the western media was pushing for a war in Syria to destroy Assad, they even accused Saddam of moving his nuclear and chemical weapons to Syria, but they got stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan and couldn't move to Syria.
Then when Hizbollah and Israel 34days war took place, I remember the western media and Israeli leadership clearly saying Syria funds Hizbollah and this is why the operation failed. Israel generals/minister made clear statements that our next move on Hizbollah will be different. I was assuming the usa will attack Syria but never imagined an internal war. Quiet frightening.
Back to topic, since the Syrian war has turned in to a sectarian war, and many Pakistanis are fighting on behest of Iran, this is why some Pakistanis are upset. We do not want to be part of a sectarian war, we dont want extremist coming back to Pakistan.