Lebanon detains wife and daughter of ISIS leader. Yahoo/Reuters.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Yahoo/Reuters

The wife and daughter of the self appointed Calif of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was arrested in Lebanon. Yahoo/Reuters. They were detained after crossing the border from Syria nine days ago. The wife has been identified as Saja al-Dulaimi, and is one of three women married to Baghdadi. Foreign intelligence agencies are believed to have cooperated in her interrogation. She had previously been held by the Syrian government but was released, along with 150 other women in exchange for ISIS releasing 13 nuns. Lebanon has had trouble recently with the Syrian civil war spilling over its borders. Both ISIS and the Al-Nusra front are holding hostages from Lebanon and both groups have made incursions into Lebanese territories. It is hoped that this will be a setback for ISIS or, at the very least, leverage for the release of hostages. 

My Comment:

Why on earth was Dulaimi in Lebanon anyways? Wouldn't she be with her husband? I won't speculate what her home life was like but the fact that she was one of three wives doesn't bode well for her. Perhaps she was escaping from him? It's hard to find out the truth at this point. 

Also, it always strikes me as weird that some Muslims take more than one wife. Polygamy is such a foreign concept to me that I have trouble wrapping my head around it. It seems like such an unfair concept because no matter what there won't be enough women to go around. Meaning that only the privileged few, like Baghdadi and other leaders/upper class people, would be able to do it, while at the same time perhaps preventing lower class people from getting married at all. To say nothing of its effect on women. Something tells me that these marriages are more political then based on romantic love. 

Of course, the hope is that Dulaimi and her daughter will be released in exchange for hostages. I doubt that there is much she can tell the various intelligence agencies, but she does have value as a bargaining chip. Perhaps Lebanon can use her to secure the release of the last American hostage held by ISIS, a 26 year old female aid worker,  One wonders if she even wants to go back though...