Houthis Double Customs Duties, Tariffs

Yemenis in Sanaa market (EPA)
Yemenis in Sanaa market (EPA)
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Houthis Double Customs Duties, Tariffs

Yemenis in Sanaa market (EPA)
Yemenis in Sanaa market (EPA)

The Houthi militia is preparing to increase customs duties rates on goods, increase tariffs and raise the exchange dollar rate from YR250 to YR600.

The militias imposed multiple taxes on goods arriving from areas under the control of the legitimate government or through Hodeidah port, in a country that imports 90 percent of its needs.

Conflicts between the group's wings have intensified, according to reports claiming that the factions argue over funds and recruitment to cover the lack of fighters on the Marib, al-Bayda, and al-Jawf fronts.

The group had already doubled the tax and customs duties on goods and merchandise several times.

In 2017, the militias approved increasing the taxes on mobile, landline, and internet services and raising taxes on domestic and imported cigarettes.

Taxes on mobile services increased from 10 percent to 22 percent, and the local and international phone services from 5 percent to 10 percent.

Taxes on domestic and imported cigarettes, tobacco, and molasses were raised to 120 percent from 90 percent.

Last year, a study by the Economic Media Center reported that the Houthi militia amended the tax and customs laws and introduced new articles, including amendments to Law No. 17 of 2010 on income taxes and a draft law for the year 2020 amending law No. 19 of 2001 on general sales tax.



Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
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Syrian Authorities Announce Closure of Notorious Desert Camp

 A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)
A boy carries bricks as he helps to restore a home in al-Qaryatayn, eastern part of Syria's Homs province, Tuesday, June 3, 2025. (AP)

A notorious desert refugee camp in Syria has closed after the last remaining families returned to their areas of origin, Syrian authorities said on Saturday.

The Rukban camp in Syria's desert was established in 2014, at the height of Syria's civil war, in a de-confliction zone controlled by the US-led coalition fighting the ISIS group, near the borders with Jordan and Iraq.

Desperate people fleeing ISIS extremists and former government bombardment sought refuge there, hoping to cross into Jordan.

Former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government rarely allowed aid to enter the camp and neighboring countries closed their borders to the area, isolating Rukban for years.

After an opposition offensive toppled Assad in December, families started leaving the camp to return home.

The Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based organization, said on Friday that the camp was "officially closed and empty, all families and residents have returned to their homes".

Syrian Information Minister Hamza al-Mustafa said on X on Saturday that "with the dismantlement of the Rukban camp and the return of the displaced, a tragic and sorrowful chapter of displacement stories created by the bygone regime's war machine comes to a close".

"Rukban was not just a camp, it was the triangle of death that bore witness to the cruelty of siege and starvation, where the regime left people to face their painful fate in the barren desert," he added.

At its peak, the camp housed more than 100,000 people. Around 8,000 people still lived there before Assad's fall, residing in mud-brick houses, with food and basic supplies smuggled in at high prices.

Syrian minister for emergency situations and disasters Raed al-Saleh said on X said the camp's closure represents "the end of one of the harshest humanitarian tragedies faced by our displaced people".

"We hope this step marks the beginning of a path that ends the suffering of the remaining camps and returns their residents to their homes with dignity and safety," he added.

According to the International Organization for Migration, 1.87 million Syrians have returned to their places of origin since Assad's fall, after they were displaced within the country or abroad.

The IOM says the "lack of economic opportunities and essential services pose the greatest challenge" for those returning home.