supports Najib Mikati, the then Prime Minister of Lebanon, claimed, through Qanso, that it "should have been represented in the [Mikati] government, just like the Syrian Social Nationalist Party”. Syrian Civil War Qanso supports the position of the United Nations Security Council which condemned the use of violence by the Ba'athist government, but which also called for ending the violence and holding those of fomenting the violence accountable. The decision to expel Syria from the Arab League was, according to Qanso, an American plot against Syria. Qanso condemned the Arab League sanctions towards Syria, and compared them to "complementary to the US plot against Syria, which targets its oil wealth." In an interview with MTV Lebanon Qanso accused a conspiracy centered around Lebanon First bloc MP Okab Sakr, Hani Hammoud, and Saad Hariri, former Prime Minister of Lebanon, of fomenting the uprising in Syria. He further claimed that there was no good reason for the Assad government to resign. Qanso tried to persuade Mikati to expel Maura Connelly, the United States Ambassador to Lebanon, from the country in late 2011 because of the United States position towards Syria during the ongoing war. In the beginning of January 2012 Qanso claimed that al-Qaida had infiltrated more than 20 political organisations in Lebanon, this was in deep contrast to what Mikati stated when he claimed that Lebanon was "al-Qaida free". Qanso further claimed that "If Syria falls, the last resistance bastion will turn into a state similar to that of Egypt or Libya and will become a breeding ground for Salafis and [the Muslim Brotherhood]. On 30 January Qanso stated his believes that "The vast majority of [Syrian] people are with the Ba'ath Party that is tasked with protecting Syrian President Bashar Assad.” At the same time he announced that the Lebanese Ba'ath Party would hold a conference on 7–8 February 2012 in Syria to discuss and approve the reform package which is planned to be introduced by Bashar al-Assad's government. References 1937 births Living people Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Lebanon Region politicians Members of the Parliament of Lebanon Lebanese Shia Muslims Government ministers of Lebanon Lebanese Arab nationalists