Alan Gomez

USA TODAY

Already notorious for its public and gruesome executions, a member of the Islamic State killed his own mother in front of a crowd in Syria this week after she tried to get him to leave the terrorist organization, according to reports.

The man, identified as Ali Saqr, 21, executed her in front of hundreds of people in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and another Syrian rights group cited by The New York Times.

The groups said that she confronted her son and urged him to flee with her out of fear that coalition forces would soon sweep in and wipe out ISIS, the observatory said. Saqr turned her in to ISIS authorities, who then ordered Saqr to execute her in front of the post office where she worked, according to the observatory.

The execution is the latest example of the Islamic State's high-profile executions, which have included beheadings of American citizens, foreign journalists and others captured by the group. The U.S. struck a retaliatory blow in November when the Pentagon said it was "reasonably certain" it had used a drone strike to kill Mohammed Emwazi, known as "Jihadi John," an English-speaking militant who had appeared in a series of grisly videos executing prisoners.

U.S. 'reasonably certain' drone strike killed 'Jihadi John'

Still, the group has continued to operate throughout Syria and northern Iraq, prompting U.S. officials to add more special operations forces on the ground.

According to the Times, ISIS has forced its members to kill their parents before. Much like this case in Raqqa, a Lebanese father went to Syria last year to bring back his son and three other fighters whom the son had recruited to the fight. The son reported his father to ISIS authorities, and later executed him, according to the Times.