Damascus  - The Syrian government announced on Tuesday that it will adopt an anti-smoking law "to protect people from the negative consequences of smoking on health, economy and environment".

The law prevents smoking in public places and prohibits advertising of all tobacco products, reported the Syrian official news agency SANA.

Local statistics indicated that smokers represented 15 per cent of the population, or three million Syrians, with an average of one cigarette pack smoked a day.

Syrian smokers spend about 26 billion Syrian pounds (about 562 million dollars), on smoking, and each smoker spends around 8 per cent of yearly income on the habit. (dpa)