The Nineveh Plain Protection Units (Classical Syriac: ܚܕܝ̈ܘܬ ܣܬܪܐ ܕܫܛܚܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܐ Ḥḏāywāṯ Settārā da-Šṭāḥā d-Nīnwē; Arabic: وحدات حماية سهل نينوى) or NPU is an Assyrian paramilitary organization that was formed in late 2014, largely but not exclusively by Assyrians in Iraq to defend themselves against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

[2][7] The Assyrian Policy Institute reported in 2020 that the NPU had 2,000 men registered to be trained awaiting approval and funding from the Federal government of Iraq and that they had 600 active soldiers deployed and running the security in towns such as Bakhdida, Karamlesh, partly in Bartella and the ancient city of Nimrud.

[3] A 2019 testimony from Assyrian activist Reine Hanna at the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom claimed that the rate of Assyrian return in towns guarded by the NPU was significantly higher than those controlled by other forces following the end of the Islamic State's occupation of the Nineveh Plain.

Two days prior to the incident, NPU captured 6 members of the Babylon Brigades on allegations of stealing ancient artefacts from Mar Behnam Monastery.

[19] Babylon Brigades have since been expelled by the Iraqi Prime Minister Office & PMU High Command from all of Hamdaniya District.