They're both Republicans. They're both from Kentucky. But when it comes to Syria, Sens. Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell might as well be from different planets.

The day before President Donald Trump lifted sanctions on Turkey on Wednesday, Paul was blocking an attempt on the Senate floor to oppose the decision.

The Bluegrass State's junior senator blocked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., from setting up a vote on a House-passed resolution formally opposing Trump's withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, for which he has made his support clear.

The same day, Majority Leader McConnell, introduced his own resolution calling on Trump to end the U.S. pullback in Syria and condemn Turkey's incursion.

McConnell said on the floor that he was encouraged by the president's decision to leave some U.S. troops in Syria.

Read Mitch McConnell's op-ed: 'Withdrawing from Syria is a grave mistake'

McConnell said the resolution crafted by the House Democrats is "not so much wrong as it is badly insufficient."

His own resolution does not include sanctions against Turkey, which he cautioned against using, though said he would be open to discussing.

"Since September the 11th, our nation has learned several key lessons about the fight against radical Islamic terrorism," McConnell said. "The terrorist threat cannot be wished away."

Paul supports a withdrawal of American troops from Syria, where they've been supporting Kurdish allies under attack by Turkey. He recently told Fox News there aren't enough American forces in that region to make a real difference in the conflict, but there are enough for the U.S. to end up getting dragged into a larger conflict.

Report:McConnell denies talking to Trump about the call with Ukraine's president

On Wednesday, Trump declared a "big success" in Syria as he lifted sanctions, saying Turkish officials had agreed to permanently end their military attack on Kurdish forces.

But Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, contradicted Trump's declaration of victory, saying in a tweet "Erdogan has NOT agreed to stop all military operations in #Syria."

In session on Tuesday, Paul said he thinks other countries "seem to have a more realistic understanding of the world than we do."

"The realism of this is we have to see the world as it is, not as we naively paint in black and white," he said, saying later that he doesn't think the U.S. will be a part of achieving peace unless it has a conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Contact Emma Austin at eaustin@gannett.com and 502-582-4180 or follow on Twitter @emmacaustin. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: subscribe.courier-journal.com.