El Shafee Elsheikh (left) and David Haines (left in second picture) with his brother (Picture: PA/Getty)

An ISIS terrorist, part of a beheading gang called ‘The Beatles’, has asked to move back to Britain to be closer to family…

As many as 1,017 people have been killed during clashes, executions and Israeli airstrikes in Syria ahead of a ceasefire today.

Mutilated, decomposing bodies are piling on streets in the southern city of Sweida over the last week as hospitals have run out of space to store the dead.

Fighting between factions of the Druze minority group and Bedouin tribes began last week, drawing in a military intervention from Syrian forces.

On the pretence of defending the Druze fighters, Israel unleashed a series of bombardments on Sweida and the Syrian defence ministry in Damascus on Monday.

Amid the secterian violence, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed that the death toll has surpassed 1,000 – with almost half of them civilians.

An estimated 336 Druze fighters and 298 civilians from the minority group, as well as 342 government security personnel and 21 Sunni Bedouin, have been killed.

Hospitals in Sweida have been inundated and are running out of medical supplies to treat the injured and space to store the bodied of the dead.

A doctor in Sweida said a local hospital was full of bodies and wounded people from days of violence.

‘All the injuries are from bombs, some people with their chests wounded. There are also injuries to limbs from shrapnel,’ said Omar Obeid, director of the hospital.

Syrian television reported that corpses are piled up on streets due to lack of space in morgue refrigerators at National Hospital.

It added: ‘⁠The health situation is getting worse in Sweida Governorate.

‘Hospitals are witnessing a shortage of medical staff and tragic conditions amid a severe shortage of medicines.

‘Water cut off completely from the National Hospital. Corpses are piling up in the National Hospital garden because the refrigerators cannot accommodate the number of corpses.

‘Water cut continues to affect the neighborhoods of Sweida city for the seventh day in a row.

‘Operation of bakeries in the city has stopped except for the health bakery, which is not enough to cover the needs of the population.’

Residents reported calm in Sweida today after the Islamist-led government announced that Bedouin fighters had withdrawn from the predominantly Druze city and a US envoy signalled that a deal to end days of fighting was being implemented.

Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa announced that an immediate ceasefire will take place today and urged an immediate end to hostilities.

The interior ministry said internal forces had begun deploying. But there are fears as to how long the deal will remain in place for, despite support from Turkey, Jordan and the US.

Sharaa said Syria would not be a ‘testing ground for partition, secession, or sectarian incitement’.

‘The Israeli intervention pushed the country into a dangerous phase that threatened its stability,’ he said in a televised speech.

The ceasefire involves the deployment of government security forces to Sweida province, and the opening of humanitarian corridors.

It also includes ‘work to secure all detained Bedouin residents in areas controlled by outlaw groups’, the interior ministry said, referring to Druze fighters, as well as the exchange of detainees.

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The strike rocked Syria’s ministry of Defence, startling a news anchor who was live on air.

A suicide bomber opened fire then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Syria during Sunday mass.

As many as 22 worshippers have been killed and another 63 injured in the ‘terrorist attack’ in Damascus.

The gunman – believed to be linked with the Islamic State – entered the Mar Elias Church, shouting ‘You pigs!’ as he aimed his weapon at the crowd and proceeded to shoot people indiscriminately.

He then blew himself up, detonating an explosive belt he was wearing.

Footage circulating on social media from inside the church shows piles of dead bodies, with blood visible throughout the scene.

Syrian resident, Lorance Meamari, said: ‘He entered and started shouting “You Pigs”.

‘When he started firing, some men tried to grab him, but he blew himself up right in that spot near the crater.

‘I personally extracted more than 10 victims, these were the ones I carried myself.

‘We also extracted 10 or 15 bags of body parts.’

The attack was the deadliest of its kind in Syria in years, and it has raised fresh concerns over the re-emergence of extremist sleeper cells in the war-torn nation.

It comes as Damascus under its de facto Islamist rule is trying to win the support of minorities.

Syria’s foreign ministry described it as ‘a desperate attempt to undermine national coexistence and to destabilise the country’.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Noureddine Al-Baba said that a preliminary investigation points to the extremist Islamic State group.

He added: ‘The security of places of worship is a red line.’

Information Minister Hamza Mostafa condemned the attack, describing it as a terrorist attack.

He said on X: ;This cowardly act goes against the civic values that brings us together.

‘We will not back down from our commitment to equal citizenship – and we also affirm the state’s pledge to exert all its efforts to combat criminal organizations and to protect society from all attacks threatening its safety.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

A suicide bomber opened fire then detonated an explosive vest inside a Greek Orthodox church in Syria during Sunday mass.

As many as 22 worshippers have been killed and another 63 injured in the ‘terrorist attack’ in Damascus.

The gunman – believed to be linked with the Islamic State – entered the Mar Elias Church, shouting ‘You pigs!’ as he aimed his weapon at the crowd and proceeded to shoot people indiscriminately.

He then blew himself up, detonating an explosive belt he was wearing.

Footage circulating on social media from inside the church shows piles of dead bodies, with blood visible throughout the scene.

Syrian resident, Lorance Meamari, said: ‘He entered and started shouting “You Pigs”.

‘When he started firing, some men tried to grab him, but he blew himself up right in that spot near the crater.

‘I personally extracted more than 10 victims, these were the ones I carried myself.

‘We also extracted 10 or 15 bags of body parts.’

The attack was the deadliest of its kind in Syria in years, and it has raised fresh concerns over the re-emergence of extremist sleeper cells in the war-torn nation.

It comes as Damascus under its de facto Islamist rule is trying to win the support of minorities.

Syria’s foreign ministry described it as ‘a desperate attempt to undermine national coexistence and to destabilise the country’.

Interior Ministry spokesperson Noureddine Al-Baba said that a preliminary investigation points to the extremist Islamic State group.

He added: ‘The security of places of worship is a red line.’

Information Minister Hamza Mostafa condemned the attack, describing it as a terrorist attack.

He said on X: ;This cowardly act goes against the civic values that brings us together.

‘We will not back down from our commitment to equal citizenship – and we also affirm the state’s pledge to exert all its efforts to combat criminal organizations and to protect society from all attacks threatening its safety.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

The FCDO shares information on 226 countries or territories.

The FCDO shares information on 266 countries or territories.

The FCDO shares information on 266 countries or territories.

The FCDO shares information on 266 countries or territories.