Doubts Grow Over ISIS Caliph’s Captured ‘Wife’

Lebanon Claims DNA Proof, But Iraq Doubts Story

Speculation continues to fly surrounding Saja al-Dulaimi, a woman from Samarra captured in Lebanon, who Lebanese officials insist is the wife of ISIS caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Dulaimi was “arrested” along with her four-year-old daughter and two sons of an unspecified age, but younger than four. The Lebanese government is claiming DNA proof that all of the children are “potentially” Baghdadi’s.

Puzzlingly enough, Lebanon also claims that Dulaimi was Baghdadi’s wife for three months over six years ago, which would make it even odder if all three of her children, much younger than six, were somehow his.

Dulaimi and the children are being held on charges of traveling with a fake ID. Iraqi officials say she is the sister of a “terror suspect” they are holding, and not believed to be the wife of Baghdadi. Lebanese officials are hoping to trade her to ISIS for the 20-plus Lebanese soldiers they captured in August.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.