Three months after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, Syria's interim President has been struggling to unite the country.

In a landmark breakthrough, the government struck a deal to merge the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces into state institutions.

While Syrian Kurds celebrate the deal, residents on the northwestern coast remain wary after days of sectarian violence that killed over 1,000 people. The government blamed pro-Assad groups for instigating the violence, and said the security threats had already been neutralized, but will the fragmented country be able to achieve peace and unity after 13 years of civil war?

Host Zhao Ying is joined by Wang Jin, Associate Professor with Northwest University in Xi'an, China; Joseph Siracusa, Professor of Global Futures with Curtin University; Steven Wright, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Hamad Bin Khalifa University.