Assem Qanso

Assem Qanso عاصم قانصوه
Qanso (left) with Romanian communist leader Nicolae Ceaușescu (right) in 1974
Member of Parliament for Baalbek-Hermel
Incumbent
Assumed office 2009
In office 1996–2005
Minister of Labour
In office 2004–2005
Prime Minister	Omar Karami
Preceded by	Assaad Hardan
Succeeded by	Trad Hamadeh
Secretary of the Lebanese (Ba'ath) Regional Command of the Ba'ath Party
In office 2000–2005
National Secretary	Abdullah al-Ahmar
Preceded by	Sayf al-Din Ghazi
Succeeded by	Sayf al-Din Ghazi
In office 1971–1989
National Secretary	Hafez al-Assad
Preceded by	Magali Nasrawin
Succeeded by	Abdullah Al-Amin
Personal details
Born	1937 Baalbek, French Lebanon
Political party	Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party (1953–1966) Syria-based Ba'ath Party (Lebanon branch: 1966–present)
Alma mater	University of Zagreb
Religion	Shia Islam

Muhammad Assem Qanso (Arabic: عاصم قانصوه‎‎, born 1937 in Baalbek) is a Lebanese politician. He is a former leader of the Lebanese Ba'ath Party.

Qanso joined the Lebanese Ba'ath in 1953. During the Lebanese war, the Lebanese Ba'ath was divided into two hostile groups: a pro-Iraqi group and a pro-Syrian group. Qanso is staunchly pro-Syrian.

Relations between the Kataeb Party and the Ba'ath Party improved, when on the orders of Karim Pakradouni (the leader of the Kataeb Party) and Qanso agreed to establish a committee between the two parties to discuss Lebanese and Arab politics. Relations improved further when the Syrian Ba'athist government increased its contacts with the Kataeb Party. During the Lebanese civil war, the Lebanese parliament formed the National Dialogue Committee in 1975; Qanso was a National Dialogue Committee representative. Qanso opposed the notion that the resignation of Suleiman Frangieh, the President of Lebanon, would end the conflict.

Following the death of Hafez al-Assad in 2000, notable figures such as Abdul Halim Khaddam and Ghazi Kanaan, supported Rafic Hariri against Émile Lahoud, the then sitting President of Lebanon, during the 2000 general election. Qanso supported Khaddam and Kanaan's position, and declared during a parliamentary session "there is no zaim [leader] but Rafik Hariri." On a later occasion, he stated "It was a message to Lahoud that, if he tried to break Hariri, Kanaan would break Lahoud." He later changed his position, and supported to extend Lahoud's mandate, and Qanso began criticising the opposition. Qanso warned Walid Jumblat that "you are not out of reach of our militants". Jumblat replied by stating it was the Ba'ath Party which had ordered the assassination of his father, Kamal Jumblatt.