FURSAN SALAH ALDIN

   The Fursan Salah al-Din (Saladin Knights or Light Brigades) were Kurdish tribal troops that supported the Iraqi government against their tribal enemy Mulla Mustafa Barzani, who referred to them by the better known term josh, or "little donkeys." Thus, the Fursan played a role similar to the Hamidiye in the Ottoman Empire and the village guards during Turkey's war against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the 1980s and 1990s.