FILE PHOTO: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to a gathering of the Federalist Society at the State Capitol in Frankfort, Kentucky, U.S. October 7, 2019. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Monday expressed grave concern about the U.S. response to Turkey’s incursion in Syria, and said he will meet with officials in President Donald Trump’s administration and other senators this week to discuss the situation.

“Abandoning this fight now and withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria would re-create the very conditions that we have worked hard to destroy and invite the resurgence of ISIS,” he said in a statement, referring to the Islamic State militant group. “And such a withdrawal would also create a broader power vacuum in Syria that will be exploited by Iran and Russia, a catastrophic outcome for the United States’ strategic interests.”