Tennessee's U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn joined a handful of other Senate Republicans on Monday in opposing President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw troops from war-torn northern Syria.

Blackburn, a loyal Trump ally in the Senate, released a statement following similar criticisms expressed earlier in the day by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida.

“For the past several years, American forces have fought alongside our Kurdish allies in Syria to provide safety and security to the region," Blackburn said.

"As the Syrian people seek stability post-conflict, we ought not to give ISIS any room to regain territory. Syria’s location leaves it vulnerable to adversaries, and an American presence preserves the possibility for peace.”

Blackburn in January joined Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, in urging the president to develop a strategy to protect Kurdish militia and other troops in the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The bipartisan pair of senators sent the letter after Trump in December announced he would order the removal of more than 2,000 U.S. troops from the war-torn country.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander's office on Tuesday also released a statement on the matter, urging Trump to continue to keep U.S. troops in Syria.

"We can’t walk away from our Kurdish allies, who are among our best allies in the Middle East," Alexander said. "The president needs to support a targeted U.S military presence in Northern Syria to combat ISIS and maintain stability in the region.”

U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Clarksville, tweeted on Monday that he was against the president's decision.

"Having served 24 years in uniform and deployed three times to the Middle East, I'm disappointed in this decision," Green said. "Withdrawing American troops from the Syrian border betrays our Kurdish allies and will only create more instability in the region."

On Monday morning, Graham called into "Fox & Friends," a morning show Trump is known to regularly watch, to condemn the "impulsive decision by the president," calling it "short-sighted and irresponsible."

He contended that the move had "undone all the gains we've made" and "thrown the region into further chaos."

"This to me is just unnerving to its core," Graham told the Fox hosts.

McConnell released a statement earlier in the day asserting that "American interests are best served by American leadership, not by retreat or withdrawal."

Rubio on Monday called Trump's decision a "grave mistake that will have implications far beyond Syria."

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers, along with foreign policy experts, have cautioned that allowing Turkey to enter the region could lead to widespread killing of Kurds and would be seen as America betraying a vital military ally.

USA TODAY contributed to this story.

Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.

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