Al Sfeira city is located in the southern suburbs of Aleppo. The road from Kharboush to Khanaser Athrayya is a strategic road, as it leads to Ma’amel Al Defaa, one of the Syrian regime forces’ largest weapon arsenal. Long clashes took place on the road which was taken over by the Free Army on August 22, 2013, before the regime took it back on Monday, October 7, 2013.
On Monday, October 7, 2013, the regime started a raid in Abu Jrein, the first village on Kharboush-Khanaser road, in which various kinds of weapons were used, including barrel bombs, thermal missiles (Kornet), artillery shelling, shelling by Shilka tanks, and grad missiles. Government forces dropped no less than 230 barrel bombs on al Sfeira city and the surrounding villages.