The White House today confirmed its intention to escalate the ongoing air war in Iraq into neighboring Syria, saying that they have to “take action” against any threats against Americans, no matter what nation it is in.

The Pentagon began talking up the expansion of the war on Thursday, with Gen. Martin Dempsey saying that the Iraq War was virtually unwinnable without going into Syria to target ISIS too. Officials have made clear that’s exactly what they’re going to do.

Publicly, the US has repeatedly downplayed the risk of escalation, amid complaints of mission creep, though in the period since beginning the air war they’ve repeatedly added new goals and are setting the stage for a much longer, much larger war than anyone bargained for.

The administration is now presenting the Syria expansion as something they were forced into, though the reality is that upon starting this new war with ISIS it was already obvious that they were going to be expanding it across borders, and are continuing to move closer to announcing a ground operation alongside it.