Mother Agnes Mariam has been alleged to have been involved in a Syrian government plot to kill the French journalist Gilles Jacquier who lost his life in Homs during 2012 . A book written by his widow and two colleagues , in which the accusations are made , has led Mother Agnes to sue for defamation . She has asserted that in Homs 80,000 Christians have become displaced by opposition groups , and has also said that the majority of fighters are from outside Syria . The latter claim has been disputed . Interviewed by '' The Australian '' in October 2012 , Mother Agnes said the rebellion " steadily became a violent Islamist expression against a liberal secular society . " Mother Agnes attempted to prove that Syrian opposition activists fabricated the videos showing victims of the Ghouta chemical attack in Damascus on 21 August 2013 . She has no formal training in analysing video evidence or the use of chemical weapons , but compiled a 50-page report . Sergey Lavrov , the Russian foreign minister , has used her claims to cast doubt over whether Assad 's forces had been responsible for the Ghouta chemical attack , and Mother Agnes has been given time on the Russian RT station to convey her opinions . Peter Bouckaert , emergencies director of Human Rights Watch , has said that her claims are entirely false , and that HRW has found no evidence that the videos were staged . In 2013 , rebels near the monastery warned her that extremist fighters wanted to abduct her , and helped her flee . Mother Agnes acted as government liaison during the evacuation of Moadamiyah ( then under siege ) at the end of October 2013 . While up to 1,800 women , children and others were freed , according to rebel spokesman Quasi Zakarya , about 300 men were arrested by the government and have been forced to join the Syrian army . According to Raya Jalabi in '' The Guardian '' : " Asked whether she considers Hezbollah and Iran – entities which supported the Assad government – to be complicit in the fabric of foreign sectarian forces inside Syria , she said no , as ' Hezbollah is n’t coming in as a religious force , and is not committing crimes of a religious nature . ' " In late 2013 , she toured the United States and visited Europe presenting her version of events in Syria . Organised by the Syria Solidarity Movement , a non-profit organisation based in California , it was planned for Mother Agnes to speak at venues , mainly churches , on the west and east coasts of the United States
Ghouta chemical attack
Ghouta chemical attack
Agnes Mariam de la Croix