[1][2] In modern Lebanon, prostitution takes place semi-officially via 'super night clubs', and illegally on the streets, in bars, hotels and brothels.
They usually have 'secret' rooms at the back and the women, mostly Egyptians, Syrians and Sudanese, are controlled by a "Mom".
They keep their liquor licenses and a blind eye is turned to the illegal activities because of bribes to the police.
[7][8] Super night clubs serve as places of introduction between prostitutes and clients.
The migrant women must have a contract to enter the country, and are issued with an 'artiste' visa, to which strict conditions are attached.
However, since the principle of concubinage in Islam in Islamic Law allowed a man to have intercourse with his female slave, prostitution was practiced by a pimp selling his female slave on the slave market to a client, who was allowed to have intercourse with her as her new owner, and who after intercourse returned his ownership of her to her pimp on the pretext of discontent, which was a legal and accepted method for prostitution in the Islamic world.
[1] At the start of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975, all of the licensed brothels were located near Martyrs' Square, in the Zeitoun district of downtown Beirut.
[1][2][9] As a result of licenses not being issued, brothels operated illegally until a new law was passed in 1998, criminalizing businesses making rooms available for commercial sex.
[2] The Civil War in Syria has led to an influx of Syrian refugees into the sex trade in Lebanon.
A forced prostitution ring, run by a Syrian pimp, was dismantled in 2016 by Lebanese police, which raided the Chez Maurice and Le Silver brothels, both located in the Maameltein area which is known for its red-light district.
Women from Eastern Europe and North Africa enter Lebanon to work in the adult entertainment industry through Lebanon's artiste visa program, which sustains a significant commercial sex industry and enables sex trafficking.