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Assad when he first assumed power in 2000 after the death of his father Hafez Al-Assad. The Western educated and influenced son was seen as a moderate and secular ruler he begin to allow freedom of travel, freedom of press but when the Alawite minority saw that if was effecting the way the old regime had kept an iron grip on its power Assad was influenced to rule with a heavier hand causing him to rule like a dictator so the Alawites could maintain their grip on power.when did Assad go from secular to moderate though. Like what was the exact transition. It seems so sudden. Like Ghadaffi's fate.