Of course there might be political reasons to keep the body alive.
Iraq's President Maliki had proof that Asad was turning a blind eye to IS militants going back and forth between Syria and Iraq because Asad wanted the militants to succeed in de-stabilising US-occupied Iraq after the 2003 US invasion. Asad did not want the US occupation of Iraq to go well - presumably he was wary about the US contemplating regime-change in Syria next if the regime change in Iraq went well. The US and Israel wanted to split up the alliance between Syria and Lebanon's Hezbollah because Hezbollah is seen as standing up to Israel using arms supplied by Syria. Removing Asad was one way to damage Hezbollah. Asad needed Hezbollah because he wanted Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria and they were on the verge of signing off the land for peace deal but according to Bill Clinton's memoirs Israel's President Barak changed his mind at the last minute -probably figured he wouldn't be able to sell the deal to the Israeli settlers who were now living in the Golan Heights.
So yes, you're probably right - the body is needed by certain interested parties for their own strategic and political reasons.
