Lebanon detains wife of Islamic

State leader

A
man purported to be the reclusive leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr alBaghdadi has made what would be his first public appearance at a mosque in the
centre of Iraq's second city, Mosul, according to a video recording posted on the
Internet on July 5, 2014, in this still image taken from video.
BY LAILA BASSAM AND SYLVIA WESTALL-BEIRUT Tue Dec 2, 2014
(Reuters) - The Lebanese army detained a wife and
daughter of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as they crossed from Syria nine
days ago, security officials said on Tuesday, in a move seen as likely to put pressure on
the Islamist chief.
The woman was identified as Saja al-Dulaimi, an Iraqi, by a Lebanese security official
and a senior political source.
The Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported she had been detained in coordination with
"foreign intelligence".

A Lebanese security source said the arrest was a powerful card to apply pressure in
negotiations to secure the release of 27 members of the Lebanese security forces
captured by Islamic militants -- a view shared by other Lebanese officials who
confirmed the arrest.
A senior Lebanese security official said Baghdadi's wife had been travelling with one of
their daughters, contradicting earlier reports that it was his son. DNA tests were
conducted to verify it was Baghdadi's child, the official said.
They were detained in northern Lebanon. Investigators were questioning her at the
Lebanese defence ministry.
There was no immediate reaction from Islamic State websites, although some
supporters rejected the report.
Fawaz Gerges, a Middle East expert at the London School of Economics, said the arrest
indicated that the American-led coalition seemed to have solid intelligence in Syria
and Iraq.
"I talked to a few people who told me this was a coordinated arrest between American
intelligence services and the Lebanese army," he told Reuters.
"If I were Abu Bakr Baghdadi, I would be very anxious that they are getting very close,"
he said. "This is a development ... that is very alarming for ISIS, in particular the top
leadership."
A U.S. government source said Washington was not sure how recently the woman had
been with Abu Bakr, and how much useful information, if any, she might have.
The U.S. embassy in Lebanon said: "This was an operation by the government of
Lebanon." It had no further comment.
Dulaimi was one of 150 women released from a Syrian government jail in March as
part of a prisoner swap that led to the release of 13 nuns taken captive by al Qaedalinked militants in Syria, according to media reports at the time.
A source with contacts with Iraqi intelligence said the captured woman was an Iraqi
wife of Baghdadis, but could not confirm her name. There was cooperation between
Iraqi and Lebanese authorities leading up to her capture, the source said.

Baghdadi has three wives, two Iraqis and one Syrian, according to tribal sources in
Iraq.
CALIPHATE
Islamic State has declared a caliphate and seized wide areas of Iraq and Syria,
Lebanon's neighbour to the east.
The Lebanese security forces have cracked down on the group's sympathisers and the
intelligence services have been extra vigilant on the borders with Syria.
They have arrested dozens of Islamic militants suspected of staging attacks to expand
Islamic State influence in Lebanon.
On Tuesday, at least six Lebanese soldiers were killed by gunmen from Syria who
attacked an army patrol near the border.
A U.S.-led alliance is seeking to roll back Islamic State's gains in Iraq and Syria, where
the group is seeking to reshape the Middle East according to its radical vision of Islam.
An Islamic State fighter denied Baghdadi's wife had been arrested. "I have checked
with our leaders and they said it was false news," he said from inside Syria.
Spillover from the Syrian conflict has repeatedly jolted neighbouring Lebanon.
Militants affiliated to the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and Islamic State are
demanding the release of Islamists held by the Lebanese authorities in exchange for
the captured members of the Lebanese security forces.
The United States is offering $10 million for information on Baghdadi, an Iraqi, whose
real name is Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarai.
Baghdadi called for attacks against the rulers of Saudi Arabia in a speech purported to
be in his name last month.
A CV of Baghdadi published on social media in July by Islamic State sympathisers
described him as married but gave no further details.
Born in 1971, Baghdadi comes from a family of preachers and teachers, according to a
biography on Islamist forums that says he studied at the Islamic University in
Baghdad.

According to U.S. media reports, Baghdadi was detained for several years at Camp
Bucca, a U.S.-run prison in Iraq, before becoming head of the Islamic State of Iraq in
2010, a predecessor to Islamic State, which expanded into Syria in 2013.
In June this year, his group named him "caliph for the Muslims everywhere". Although
he is rarely pictured, a video released in July showed him preaching in a mosque in
Mosul.
(Additional reporting by Saif Hameed in Iraq, Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing
by Sylvia Westall and Tom Perry; Editing by Samia Nakhoul, Janet McBride and Giles
Elgood)
Posted by Thavam