Well, as someone who was very skeptical of him before, and viewed him as a hardcore, irredeemable militant (due to his previous leadership roles in AQI, ISIS and Al Nusra); I think my opinion of him has shifted a bit.
This is my new view of him.
I think he wants to be in Trump’s good books. I also think he is “controlled” by the Turks.
He knows that Syria faces many challenges, economic, political and security related. His country has issues of territorial integrity, with the Israelis occupying large swathes of south western Syria; and then challenges from the SDF as well. Despite trying to be in Trump’s good books, Syria economically is still in dire straits.
In this situation, it would be very difficult starting a direct military conflict against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran might have also opened up some unofficial channels with Syria via Turkey, to smuggle some arms into Lebanon (Hezbollah) via Syria in exchange of Iranian money (or other arrangements).
So my updated view is that he on a personal level might not be the ideologue that I thought he was, which is a good thing. Some people who work under him in his regime might be repressive within their own country, but for now, he personally seems to be in control in Syria.
He is most definitely an opportunist, but in politics, I think you expect opportunism as a norm from everyone. It’s just the nature of politics. It will be interesting to see what role he plays if Trump convinces him to tackle Hezbollah, and asks Israel to wind down its operations in Lebanon.