“Invasion, battle, slaughter and fall of Afrin have struck all of us,” Sulaimani governor said in a statement on Sunday night.

The governor hoped peace, construction and freedom would replace war, destruction and invasion.

According to NRT he called on the people of the Kurdistan Region and the political parties to express their support for Afrin peacefully.

“We have decided to announce mourning from the evening of March 18 until the evening of March 21 in our province,” the statement read.

Besides halting Newroz celebration, governor said the celebration would be changed to “Newroz of Support” and “Newroz of mourning” in the province.

He also called on the international community to protect the displaced people from Afrin and help the wounded in the region.

Dozens of people in Erbil and Sulaimani protested on Sunday night against the capture of Afrin by the Turkish-backed rebels.

As of Sunday afternoon, the whole of the Afrin enclave was in the hands of Turkey-led forces, said Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Kurdish authorities in northern Syria vowed to fight to retake the city from Turkish army and Ankara-backed rebels.

"Resistance... will continue until every inch of Afrin is liberated and the people of Afrin return to their villages and homes," authorities in the semi-autonomous canton of Afrin said in a statement.

"In all of Afrin's sectors, our forces will become a permanent nightmare" for pro-Ankara forces, the statement read. "Our war against the Turkish occupation... has entered a new phase: a switch from direct confrontation to hit-and-run attacks.”

Reporter’s code: 50101