I've seen plenty of people on social media cheer Putin's aggressive stance against ISIS. That's what I'm referring to, not the article per se.

A democratic Syria would be a challenge to Israel in the same way a democratic Egypt would be, which is why the US was initially reluctant to back the Arab Spring demonstrators. The problem is that, when it's not the US installing a democracy, there's a risk that a democratically-elected government would still be hostile towards Israel. There were early signs of such a situation in Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood polling strong, and it would definitely be the case with Syrians given how bitter country relations have been.

Never said al Assad was the US's ally, but he's Russia's ally, and when Russia claims to be bombing ISIS people cheer on even though they don't realize Russia's end game is maintaining al Assad (or his entourage, if transition becomes necessary) firmly in power.