Syrian jihadist executes his own mother after begging him to leave Islamic State

A Syrian jihadist has reportedly killed his mother in public after she begged him to leave terror group Islamic State. The 20-year-old told IS officials "she tried to persuade him to leave IS and flee the city", according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said he shot his mother on Wednesday "in front of hundreds of people" in a piazza near a post office.
"She was executed under the pretext of 'inciting her son to leave the Islamic State and escaping together to the outside'," it said.
The woman was described as being in her forties. She lived in the neighbouring town of Tabaqa but worked in the city. Raqqa is the self-proclaimed capital of IS's so-called "caliphate", where it imposes its harsh interpretations of Islamic law.