The Lebanese army has detained a wife and a son of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the leader of the terrorist group operating in Iraq and Syria, ISIL, security officials have said.

The Lebanese army has detained a wife and a son of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi the leader of the terrorist group operating in Iraq and Syria, ISIL, security officials have said.

They were arrested as they crossed from Syria in recent days, the officials said.

The military said in a statement that the woman was a Syian citizen and the detained son was nine years old.

According to the army statement, they were detained 10 days ago and have been questioned at the ministry of defense.

Lebanese newspaper As-Safir reported that the army had detained the woman in coordination with “foreign intelligence apparatus”.

ISIL has seized swathes of Iraq and Syria, Lebanon's neighbor to the east, declaring a "caliphate" over the territory it controls.

The Lebanese army has waged a crackdown on ISIL sympathizers in Lebanon and the intelligence services have been extra vigilant on the border crossings.

It has arrested over the past few months a number of ISIL operators who were planning terrorist attacks across Lebanon.