Turkey announced on Monday that it has gained control of more than half of the Syrian city of Afrin, nearly two months after it launched an operation to clear the area of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG). "We have cleared an area of 1,102 kilometer square from terrorists in Afrin. We will soon reach the town center and clear it as well," government spokesman Bekir Bozdag told reporters. Turkey launched an operation into Syrias northwest Afrin region in January and has threatened to push further east to Manbij, where Syrian Kurdish YPG troops are stationed. Turkey accuses the YPG controlling Afrin of being "terrorists". Hundreds of civilians fled the Turkish-led advance on Afrin on Monday, a monitor said. "More than 2,000 civilians have arrived in the area of Nubul" controlled by pro-regime forces after fleeing the enclave, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "Several hundred more are still on the roads" heading out of the region, the Britain-based Observatory said. Turkish forces and their allies on Saturday arrived within less than two kilometers (one mile) of the city, sparking fears it could become besieged. Afrin city -- the main urban center in the enclave on the Turkish border -- is home to around 350,000 people, the Observatory says. A journalist contributing to AFP saw dozens of cars and buses loaded with civilians and their belongings queuing as they waited to exit the enclave. The only road out of Afrin for civilians wishing to escape the Turkish offensive is via Nubul and the nearby area of Zahra. With the latest civilians leaving, these two areas have become home to around 16,000 displaced from the Afrin region, the Observatory says. The areas are so crowded that those fleeing fighting have resorted to living in mosques and schools, he said. A spokeswoman for the UNs humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) in Damascus said the situation inside Afrin was looking "very serious". "As the military operations get closer to Afrin city, they are putting a lot of people at risk, in addition to displaced people in the city," Linda Tom said. Thousands have sought refuge in the city, after escaping fighting in other areas of the Kurdish enclave. "Were trying to get humanitarian assistance" in, she said. On Monday, the Observatory reported violent clashes on the outskirts of Afrin city, as pro-Ankara rebels advanced seizing control of several villages in other parts of the region. The Observatory says pro-Ankara forces have captured around 60 percent of the Afrin enclave since the offensive began on January 20.