Lebanese Army Arrests Wife, Daughter of IS leader al-Baghdadi

The Lebanese Army has arrested a wife and daughter of Islamic Sate's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The Ministry of Defence of Lebanon confirmed the matter to NBC News. Security officials said Tuesday that the two were arrested as they tried to cross the border from Syria nine days ago.

The woman has been identified as Saja al-Dulaimi, a native of Iraq. Lebanese newspaper As-Safir states that she has been detained in coordination with "foreign intelligence".

The arrests come as a massive blow to al-Baghdadi-led Islamic State, which has seized major chunks of land in Iraq and Syria. The woman and the daughter can be used to bargain with the terrorist group. Earlier, various media reports stated that it was al-Baghdadi's son who was arrested along with his wife, but a senior Lebanese security official clarified that it was a daughter, Reuters reports.

The woman has been detained and is being interrogated at the headquarters of the Lebanese Defense Ministry in northern Lebanon.

Dulaimi is reportedly one of the 150 women who had been let go from a Syrian jail in March in a prisoner swap which witnessed the release of 13 nuns who had been taken into captivity by al Qaeda-linked militants.

Al-Baghdadi is now based in Syria. A French newspaper, Le Monde, has described al-Baghdadi as "the new Bin laden", USA Today reports. The jihadist group has not responded to the arrest as yet.

An ISIS sympathizer had uploaded al-Baghdadi's CV on social media in July. It stated his marital status as being 'married', but no further details were given. At present, it is unclear as to how many wives he has. In Islam, males are allowed to practice polygamy.