The Syrian Civil War has been described as an "intensely sectarian conflict". The focus of the conflict has been identified as a ruling minority Alawite government (with Alawites being a largely syncretic Shiite Muslim offshoot from which President Assad's most senior political and military associates are drawn) and allied Shi'a governments such as Iran, pitted against the country's Sunni Muslim majority who are aligned with the Syrian opposition and their Sunni Turkish and Persian Gulf State backers. The conflict had drawn in other ethno-religious minorities, including Armenians, Assyrians, Druze, Palestinians, Kurds, Yazidi, Mhallami, Arab Christians, Mandaeans, Turkmens and Greeks.