ISIS publicly executed nine men and a boy aged 15 in Syria for being gay yesterday, the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights has claimed.

It said seven men were shot dead in Rastan, in the Homs province of central Syria, after they were accused of being homosexuals.

Two other men and the teenager were executed in the town of Hreitan in northern Aleppo, according to the Observatory's head, Rami Abdel Rahman.

He told MailOnline the boy was arrested earlier this year, when he was 14, and locked up until he was senselessly killed.

Meanwhile, gruesome footage - thought to have been filmed earlier this year - has emerged showing hooded ISIS fighters marching ten suspected spies into the desert and shooting them in the head from point blank range.

Atrocity: ISIS has publicly executed nine men and a boy in Syria for being gay (file photo of suspected homosexual being thrown off roof)

Rahman claimed the executions of the men accused of homosexuality were all carried out in front of a large crowd, but ISIS fighters destroyed any cameras used to film the murders.

The terror group has released several propaganda videos and images which show alleged homosexuals being thrown off tall buildings and stoned to death in front of a baying crowd.

Last month, ISIS's latest 'roof top execution' showed two men being thrown from a roof in Homs before they were stoned by a bloodthirsty mob, which included children.

It has been Islamic State's preferred method of murder for the men they suspect of being gay, an 'offence' which is punishable by death.

Murdered: In a video which is thought to have surfaced earlier this year, ten men in blue jumpsuits were shot dead after they were accused of being spies

The United Nations estimates that ISIS has executed at least 30 people for being gay.

The UN Security Council held its first discussion on ISIS attacks against LGBT people in the Middle East last month.

The executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Jessica Stern, said Islamic State's homophobic violence was inspiring other militias and 'private actors' to attack gay people too.

She also said that persecution of LGBT people in Iraq and Syria began long before the emergence of ISIS.

Stern said: 'In addition to men perceived as gay, trans-identified people and lesbians are among those who have been raped and killed,' she added.

She called on special strategies to combat attacks against gay people, including specific UN action to relocate those most in need.