Smoking ban burns Syrian businesses

Syria is the first Arab country to enforce a ban on smoking in all public places, including cafes and restaurants.

The decree was signed last November by Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, who is also a qualified medical doctor, but the law was not implemented until last Wednesday.

Many businesses have said that the ban is already hurting trade in a country where it is believed that more than 20 per cent of women and 60 per cent of men are smokers.

Al Jazeera’s Bhanu Bhatnagar reports.