Abigail Frymann tries hard to present both sides of the narrative in her feature interview (“The rebels want my head”, 7 June) with Mother Agnes Mariam of the Cross. Sadly, she falls hook, line and sinker for the controversial nun’s take on matters inside Syria. The view that “the majority of anti-Assad fighters in Syria are foreign” is presented as “widely accepted”, yet all reputable media outlets regularly report that while there are indeed now many foreign fighters inside Syria, they began in small numbers and only starting expanding a year after the uprising began. Even now they account for less than 25 per cent of the total opposition. Assad himself has of course brought in far greater numbers of foreign fighters – from the Lebanese Sh