BEIRUT — Syrian rebels launched an offensive Sunday in an eastern city near Iraq in an attempt to extend their advances in the north and west of the country, activists said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees said government warplanes countered the advance by conducting several air raids against rebel positions in the eastern city of Deir el-Zour.
The groups said rebels killed seven soldiers and captured several others in the city, which has been contested since last year.
Rebels have been on the offensive in northern Syria, where they captured the town of Khan al-Assal last month. Last week, opposition fighters captured 11 villages in the regime stronghold of Latakia province along the Mediterranean coast, a symbolic blow to President Bashar Assad.
‘‘Fighters are trying to capture neighborhoods in Deir el-Zour but so far they have not been able to,’’ said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory. ‘‘They are trying to take the whole city.’’
So far, rebels have only fully captured one provincial capital, Raqqa. They hold parts of several other major cities, including Aleppo, Deir el-Zour, and Homs.