Bashar al-Assad, a 40-year-old trained ophthalmologist who became Syrian president literally by accident, is a leader Israelis love to scorn. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called him 'immature' and said Syria would be 'useless' in solving the current crisis in Lebanon. Israeli Vice-Premier Shimon Peres, referring to Mr Assad's cunning father Hafez, who ruled Syria from 1970 until his death in 2000, described him as 'the son of a wise leader'. But with Israel proving unable to neutralise the fundamentalist Shi'ite Hezbollah, despite a more than three-week-old military onslaught in Lebanon, Mr Assad is increasingly being seen by some world leaders as possibly holding the key to reining in the power of Hezbollah, which Syria has armed and sponsored. Former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer called on Israel to consider relinquishing the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967, as part of a deal in which Syria would co-operate in disarming Hezbollah. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Syria needed to be included in any arrangements in Lebanon. Analysts are divided over whether Mr Assad could use the fighting in Lebanon to redress some of the failures of his six years in office. His tenure started with hopes he would loosen Syria's authoritarian political system and allow for a more equal relationship with Lebanon, an area Syria viewed as its front yard during his father's rule. But the brief 'Damascus Spring' that included prisoner releases after Mr Assad took power upon his father's death gave way to crackdowns, and the regime continued to rely on the security services. Mr Assad took intervention in Lebanese affairs to new heights in 2004 by unconstitutionally orchestrating the extension of the term of President Emile Lahoud, a Syrian ally, fuelling opposition to the Syrian military presence. In contrast to his father's deft manipulation of Lebanon's diverse factions, Mr Assad's Lebanon policies failed and backfired. He was forced to withdraw Syrian troops last year after the killing of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri, for which Damascus was widely blamed and later implicated. Mr Assad was on his way to leading a quiet life detached from politics, with his elder brother Basil being groomed to succeed his father. But Basil was killed in a car accident in 1994. Mr Assad, who received his medical certificate in Syria, was recalled from training in ophthalmology in London and enrolled in a military academy. He was instrumental in introducing the internet to Syria, contributing to his initial image as a reformer. When his father died, the ruling Ba'ath party reduced the constitutional minimum age for the presidency so he could take over at age 34. While his father had been careful to maintain relations with the US, Mr Assad touched off American anger and calls for regime change with his strident opposition to the US occupation in Iraq. His calls for relaunching negotiations with Israel on the Golan Heights fell on deaf ears from Israeli leaders reluctant to relinquish the occupied territory and from American hawks anxious to keep Syria isolated and under pressure. Mr Assad caused an uproar in Israel with a 2001 speech during a visit by Pope John Paul II in which he said Jews 'tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill Mohammed'. Moshe Maoz, a Syria specialist at the Hebrew University, said: 'Bashar Assad is learning slowly but in the Middle East you cannot afford to be slow.' He adds, however, 'there is now an opportunity to involve Syria in future negotiations on Lebanon, on the Golan Heights and in Iraq'. Syria has an interest in pursuing better ties with the west and breaking out of its international isolation, Dr Maoz says. 'Syria would need something in return,' he said. 'They want the lifting of sanctions, and erasing Syria from the list of states sponsoring terrorism. They want the Golan Heights and the halting of the UN inquiry into the killing of Hariri.' Tel Aviv University Syria specialist Eyal Zisser, however, said Mr Assad is simply not up to the task of swinging Syria over to closer relations with the west in the way Colonel Muammar Gaddafi realigned Libya. 'I can't see it,' Dr Zisser says. 'Thus far during the crisis he has done nothing. He didn't initiate, he didn't send messages to the Americans. He has no courage, no vision and he doesn't read well regional and international politics. He's not smart and cautious like his father. 'He's an ophthalmologist trying to survive.'