Conflict Incident Report

State Security arrested two men in south Lebanon on suspicion of trafficking women, the state-run National News Agency reported. During questioning, one of the suspects - identified as 20-year-old Palestinian national A.J. - reportedly admitted to working with a Lebanese national to traffic women into the country for work. However, he admitted that they then forced the women into the sex trade. The suspect’s Lebanese accomplice was not identified in the report but the pair were both transferred to judiciary for further investigation. State Security did not disclose the location of the arrest.

Security services have raided several illegal brothels in a number of major cases of forced prostitution over the last two years. Last year 26 people were arrested for running a sex trafficking ring in Jounieh, north of Beirut, that had forced over 75 women into sexual slavery. The majority of the women being held were Syrian.