More Than 15 Minors Exploited in Beirut Street-Selling Networks
The Internal Security Forces (ISF) have arrested four Syrian nationals in two separate operations targeting the exploitation of minors forced to sell flowers and tissues on the streets of Beirut.
In a statement, the ISF said a joint patrol from the Beirut Investigation Detachment and the Anti-Human Trafficking and Morals Protection Bureau arrested two suspects, identified by their initials as A.H. (born in 2003) and M.A. (born in 2009), in the Nahr area.
Investigations revealed that A.H. allegedly ran an organized network that exploited and trafficked more than 15 minors, most of them Syrian, forcing them to sell flowers in the Nahr and Mar Mikhael neighborhoods. M.A. was allegedly involved in the operation.
Police later raided A.H.’s home in Dora, where they arrested his wife, A.S. (born in 2004), after establishing her involvement in the network.
According to the ISF, two of A.S.’s younger siblings were among the children being exploited. Investigators also found that she and her husband had provided accommodation to M.A., who is a minor, in return for his participation in the operation.
The investigation also identified M.S. (born in 1978), a relative of one of the exploited children. A search and investigation notice was issued against him.
In a separate operation carried out on October 23, 2026, security forces arrested another Syrian national, A.H. (born in 1968), on suspicion of forcing minors to sell packets of tissues in Sassine Square, in Beirut’s Ashrafieh district.
Investigators found that the suspect had been exploiting his two underage grandchildren by making them sell goods on the street.
The ISF said the necessary legal procedures had been taken against the detainees, who were referred to the competent authorities in accordance with the instructions of the relevant judicial authorities.
