He's a dictator son of a dictator who used violence to intimidate and suppress any political opposition in the country.
He's also Alawi, which is a sect of Shia Islam that represents only 7% of the population of his country (but which is why Iran, a 99% Shia Muslim nation, supports him).
74% of his country is Sunni, whose hardliners believe Shias to be heretics.
So there's that sense of mistrust, too.