The female 'rock stars' of terror
Women such as Saja al-Dulaimi and Joumana Hmayed are often used for smuggling messages, money and arms by extremist groups in addition to suicide bombing operations.
Extremist groups have often publicized the role of women as caregivers responsible for raising a future generation of militants willing to die for the Islamic cause. However, with the outbreak of the civil war in nearby Syria, women have come to play a more prominent, albeit indirect, role in terrorism around Lebanon.
Last December, Iraqi citizen Saja al-Dulaimi was arrested in north Lebanon while traveling with counterfeit documents. The woman, who belongs to Iraqi's large al-Dulaimi tribe, is believed to be the daughter of an Islamic State (IS) emir and the sister of a woman allegedly behind a September 2008 suicide attack in Erbil.
Dulaimi is also believed to have been briefly married six years ago to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. A military court charged Dulaimi and her current husband, Kamal Khalaf, who accompanied her when she was arrested, of holding contacts with terrorist organizations and planning to carry out terrorist acts.
Authorities also reported that Dulaimi received at least $200,000 via wire transfer agencies and charity organizations and then transferred the money to militants operating along Lebanon’s border with Syria.
