The Kurds in northeastern Syria, led by the communist Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), established a semi-autonomous region during the early years of the Syrian Civil War. This enclave is often referred to as Rojava, the Kurdish term for the western portion of Greater Kurdistan and poetically translated as ‘where the sun sets.’ The landlocked and largely isolated region is bordered by Turkey to the north, Assad’s regime to the west and south, and Iraqi Kurdistan to the east. United States partnered with the Kurds in the fight against the Islamic State and used their ground forces to seize large swaths of territory from the group, including the city of Raqqa. Rojava remains a largely unstable and economically depressed region with few resources besides oil and wheat or trading partners with which to grow a functioning economy. Their largest threat remains Turkey, which considers their armed wings terrorist organizations.