Chapter 3 focuses on study participants’ perceptions of international actors. The Arab States, ISIS, the Russian-Iran Coalition, and the U.S. are highlighted as external actors. The chapter also presents the Sykes-Picot Agreement of 1916 as a common, important historical reference to Syria’s colonial past. The emphasis on Sykes-Picot, along with contemporary actions of Western states, shows the continuation of colonial legacies over Syria, people’s awareness of these policies, and increasing skepticism towards Western human rights discourse. After analyzing the formation of identities from the outside-in, the chapter continues by focusing on participants’ approach to identity divisions. Such analysis is crucial to show how people will approach living with others in the new governance and power-sharing structure of Syria. The chapter then analyzes how ascriptive identities are perceived. Whether refugees perceive the ascriptive identities as primordial and locate the hostilities as ancient hatreds or view these identities as political determines their view of the possibility of building peace.