Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, told state broadcaster TRT Haber that Ankara expected its military and its rebel allies to clear Afrin “very soon”.

“More than 70 percent of Afrin region has been controlled,” Kalin added.

Since January 20, Ankara and allied Syrian rebels have pressed an air and ground offensive that has brought them to the edges of Afrin, held by the Syrian Kurdish forces.

At least four civilians including two children were killed and 12 others were wounded in Turkish airstrikes on the city center of Afrin on Wednesday, Hawar news agency reported.

The urban center is now home to around 350,000 people, after its population swelled with thousands fleeing their homes since the start of the assault.

Water has already been cut for more than a week and electricity shortages have been rampant since pro-Ankara forces took control of a nearby dam that provides some hydroelectric power to the town.

The United Nations' humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) warned Tuesday that residents are relying on six boreholes whose unchlorinated water is putting civilians at risk of contracting waterborne diseases.

Only one U.N. convoy has entered Afrin since the assault began, distributing aid to 50,000 people in early March.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, more than 200 civilians have been killed in the offensive.

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