Lebanon’s army in late November arrested one of Islamic State (ISIS) chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s wives and one of their children, media outlets reported Tuesday.
Lebanese daily As-Safir broke the story in its Tuesday edition, reporting that Lebanese army intelligence in cooperation with “foreign intelligence services” had detained one of Baghdadi’s wives at a border crossing along with one of her children.
The report said Baghdadi’s wife was traveling with a fake ID and had been taken to the Defense Ministry’s headquarters in Yarzeh outside Beirut for interrogation.
“This great security achievement, which required pre-emptive procedures in a number of military areas, had been kept a secret over the past days by the military,” As-Safir reported.
London-based Alaraby Aljadeed also said that the operation to track Baghdadi’s wife was conducted with the aid of “Western intelligence reports that reached army intelligence and a number of [Lebanon’s other] security apparatuses.”
Reuters, in turn, cited security officials as saying that Baghdadi’s wife had been detained as she crossed from Syria into northern Lebanon nine days ago.
However, the agency added, the officials “declined to give the name or nationality” of Baghdadi’s wife. Meanwhile, Al-Arabiya reported that the woman was the ISIS leader’s second wife and carried Syrian nationality.
The Reuters report also cited a senior Lebanese security official as saying that “Baghdadi's wife had been traveling with one of their daughters,” contradicting earlier reports that the child was a boy.
AFP had reported earlier in the day that the detained child was her son and approximately 8-years old.
Jihadist media outlets affiliated with ISIS have yet to issue any statements on the reported detention.
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