BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister says his government could deploy troops inside Syria, in the latest fallout from the U.S. decision to withdraw from the war-torn country.

Adel Abdul-Mahdi says his government is "considering all the options" to protect Iraq from threats across its borders.

The U.S. stunned the international community last Thursday when it announced it would pull its forces out of Syria, leaving its allies, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, to fight the the Islamic State group alone.

IS militants hold a pocket of territory along the Syrian-Iraqi border. Iraq is keeping reinforcements at the frontier.

Abdul-Mahdi spoke to reporters at a press conference on Monday.