Sana'a Mehaidli

Sana'a Mehaidli (Arabic: سناء محيدلي; 14 August 1968 – 9 April 1985) was a Lebanese militant and member of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party who, at the age of 16, blew herself up next to an Israeli convoy in Jezzine, Lebanon, during the South Lebanon conflict (1985-2000). Two Israeli soldiers were killed and ten others were injured in the attack.^[1][2][3]

Mehaidli in her SSNP uniform.

Biography

Mehaidli was born in 1968 in the Lebanese village of Anqoun (near Sidon),^[4] into a Christian family.^[5] She had four brothers and one sister. She worked at a video store, where she later recorded her will. In early 1985, she joined the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) that was affiliated with the Lebanese National Resistance Front.^[6]

She may have been the first female suicide bomber, according to some researchers.^{[7][8][9][10]} She is known as "the Bride of the South".^[11]

References

1. "(Female) Suicide Bombers". HuffPost. huffingtonpost.com. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
2. The Hijacked Caravan Archived 2007-03-29 at the Wayback Machine
3. "Did you know the first suicide bombing may have occurred in 1881?" (PDF). Retrieved 8 June 2016.
4. "سناء محيدلي عروس الجنوب - سناء محيدلي عروس الجنوب اللبناني". 6 December 2013. Archived from the original on 6 December 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
5. Jan N. Bremmer (2017). Maidens, Magic and Martyrs in Early Christianity. Mohr Siebeck. p. 416. ISBN 9783161544507.
6. "History's First Female Suicide Bomber — Bride Of The South". Medium.com. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
7. FEMALE SUICIDE BOMBERS by Debra D. Zedalis, strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil (June 2004)
8. Zedalis, Debra D. (1 August 2004). Female Suicide Bombers. The Minerva Group, Inc. ISBN 9781410215932. Retrieved 8 June 2016 – via Google Books.
9. Female Suicide Bombers Archived 2010-02-10 at the Wayback Machine
10. Rajan, V. G. Julie (2011). Women Suicide Bombers: Narratives of Violence. Routledge. p. 225. ISBN 9781136760211. Retrieved 13 October 2015. Rosemary Skaine writes about Sana'a Mehaidli the first terrorist suicide bomber and first women bomber for the Syrian Socialist Network Party ...
11. Wedeen, Lisa (15 June 1999). Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226877884. Retrieved 8 June 2016 – via Google Books.

External links

• SSNP video in Arabic about Sana'a Mehaidli. Archived 2011-09-30 at the Wayback Machine