In Lebanon, prostitution occurs in different forms and is practiced in ways and within networks that differ according to the nationalities of women. Hundreds of Lebanese women engage in practicing prostitution, either as a primary or a secondary profession.
Communication with customers may occur directly through their presence in cafes, restaurants or on the streets, or through cab drivers and hotel workers, or thanks to organized networks and jobs in nightclubs and cabarets. The activity of these sex workers is not subjected to any supervision, as they may deliver their services at any time in any place, based on a mere phone call with the client. However, the price may be raised, depending on the beauty of the girl or the duration spent with the client.
Usually, prostitutes dwell in Greater Beirut, but may move to other regions as well. It is common knowledge that the entry from Syria to Lebanon is visa free, and all that the Syrian nationals both male and female require to travel to Lebanon is an entry card showing the stamp of the General Security and allowing its holder to reside in Lebanon for 6 months. Some networks solicit Syrian women and summon them to Lebanon to work in prostitution in clubs designed strictly for them, where a client may walk in, then escort the prostitute he chooses out of the club, or have intercourse in equipped rooms inside the club.
Clients may also take prostitutes to their houses or to hotel rooms. The networks provide houses for the Syrian prostitutes, and send them to the places that the clients specify as per their phone conversation with the pimps.
Likewise that of Lebanese women, the business of Syrian prostitutes is not subjected to oversight or to specific timing. The number of Syrian prostitutes in Lebanon has proliferated as a result of the current crisis in Syria. Throughout their stay in Lebanon, foreign prostitutes are to confine themselves in their place of work and residence, which is usually a hotel that they may only leave between 1 pm and 7pm or 8 pm before heading to the club from 10 pm until 5 am.
