Haven't there been reports that Assad was secretly supporting ISIS, so they would become the face of his opposition, and get the world to support him?
I heard next he's planning to assassinate himself to shore up his regime even further.
Assad is tactically focusing on whatever the non-ISIS opposition is at the moment so I wouldn't call it 'supporting'. Nazi Germany focusing on the USSR is not 'supporting' Britain. Besides, Assad has heard of "Christians to Beirut, Alawites to the grave" many times.
He's "focusing" on the rebels in the coastal cities because they pose the biggest immediate threat to his regime, not out of some abstract preference. The rebels are funded and supported by western powers, like France, and their presence is handicapping Assad's ability to fight ISIS. And for western powers, like France, it
is in many ways an abstract preference, and they have consistently preferenced fighting Assad over fighting ISIS. If western powers, like France, instead prioritized fighting ISIS it might have been obliterated by now. That's the point Assad's making and its perfectly legitimate.
