Men Disguised as Women Likely Involved in Attack on UN Investigators in Dahiyeh

Men disguised as Muslim women clad in burqa (black veil and top to toe gown) were reportedly part of the group of women that attacked U.N. investigators at a Beirut clinic who were on a mission to obtain phone numbers of between 14 to 17 people.

On Wednesday, a group of women stormed into a gynecologist's clinic in Beirut's southern suburbs and clashed with investigators from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

They snatched the briefcase of one of the two male investigators who were talking to gynecologist Iman Sharara.

The investigators, who were accompanied by a local female translator, were trying to obtain phone numbers of between 14 to 17 people who visited Sharara's practice since 2003.

MTV television station quoted a soldier who was in charge of the security of the U.N. investigators said he was grabbed and bitten by an attacker who seemed to have the strength of a man.

The hand which attacked him looked more like a man's hand than a woman's, the soldier said.

Saudi newspaper Okaz, for its part, quoted Sharara's secretary as saying she had never seen the women attackers before.

She said men clad in burqa were likely to have been among the crowd of women.

Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat quoted sources as saying that the stolen briefcase contained a laptop and some documents of special use by members of the team of investigators to jot down responses to questions during their interview with doctor Sharara.

Doctor Sharara, who runs the private obstetrics and gynecology clinic, told reporters a team of two male investigators and their female translator arrived at her practice mid-morning on a scheduled appointment.

"They asked me for the phone numbers of between 14 and 17 patients since 2003 and I told them it would take me some time to review my files," she said at her clinic in the Hizbullah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut.

When she opened the door to inform her secretary of the files needed, Sharara said she was surprised to see a crowd of some 30 women had stormed the waiting room although she had cancelled all appointments for the morning.

A security source told AFP the angry women rushed towards the interrogators, shouting insults at them, and managed to snatch a briefcase from the pair who escaped unscathed.

"The Office of the Prosecutor takes this incident very seriously and we are currently looking into it," the media relations unit of The Hague-based Special Tribunal for Lebanon told AFP by email.

Sharara's lawyer Mustafa Shoqeir told reporters his client had sought legal advice and conferred with the medical practitioners' union before agreeing to meet the investigators.

"We are still willing to cooperate with Lebanese authorities and investigators representing the tribunal as per international decree and procedure," Shoqeir said.

State prosecutor Saeed Mirza has opened an investigation into the incident.

Meanwhile a judicial source speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity said that some women also stole mobile phones from two plainclothes security forces who were escorting the investigators.

The parliamentary majority March 14 coalition, for its part, denounced Wednesday's incident as an attack on international law.

"We condemn this attack on a team of investigators and the theft of their files by civilian troops loyal to Hizbullah," March 14 said in a statement at the end of their weekly meeting.

"This... marks an attack on international laws and decrees."

AMAL movement MP Yassin Jaber said, however, the incident was a sign the tribunal was "not welcome" in Lebanon.

The U.N.-backed court was formed by a 2007 U.N. Security Council resolution to find and try the killers of Hariri, who was assassinated in a massive car bombing on the Beirut seafront on February 14, 2005.

Lebanon is facing a full-blown crisis over the tribunal as unconfirmed reports indicate the STL is set to accuse members of Hizbullah.

Hizbullah has confirmed several of its members, both male and female, have been interrogated in connection with the Hariri murder.

The Syrian- and Iranian-backed party has accused the United Nations of interfering in Lebanese affairs and called instead for a local investigation.

But Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the slain ex-premier, has vowed to see the U.N. tribunal through.(Naharnet-AFP)