BEIRUT: Syrian activists say rebel fighters have launched a fresh offensive on a government complex near the embattled northern city of Aleppo.

The director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, says the complex includes a police academy and several smaller army outposts in charge of protecting it west of the city.

Rebels have been trying to storm the strategic installation for months. They were shelling the facility with tanks on Sunday, but remain outgunned by the regime which has responded with airstrikes, Abdul-Rahman said.

The rebels control large swaths of land outside Aleppo and whole neighborhoods inside the city, which has been a major battlefield in civil war since July.