and yeah, assad may be a creep, but it ain't an easy task to keep that shit together.
My point of thinking is very simple. Compare Assad with his potential successor. As far as I know, all the rebel leaders are much worse than Assad. They don't have the necessary experience, and most of them are radical Islamists.
most of them aren't even syrian but gathered from the prisons from all the bearded world...
among other assorted scum.