The National Defense Battalions ( "Jahafel al-Difa' al-Watani") were Iraqi Kurdish paramilitary units. Initially emerging from pro-government Kurdish militia raised by the regime of Abd al-Karim Qasim used against Kurdish insurgents in the 1960s, the Battalions were used quite prominent during the Iran-Iraq War, particularly during the Anfal Campaign. Following the war many units rebelled in 1991 and joined the Peshmerga, although the Battalions survived, albeit in a reduced capacity, until the Ba'athist government was toppled in 2003.