Responding to a question about the criticism of his strategy in fighting IS, he insisted that the fight has made steady progress by conducting sustained bombings and taking back some areas controlled by the terror group.

Obama defended his decisions not to send US troops to combat IS militants on the ground while conducting precision bombings in a controlled manner to avoid more loss of civilian lives.

"And we are going after ISIL effectively. We are going after them hard. And we are confident that we are going to prevail," he said.

Obama called for patience for his strategy to work, which he said aims to achieve a "sustained defeat" of IS by helping local forces develop capacity and create a stable government structure in the region.

Acknowledging that IS is more systematic and more effective in media manipulation and online presence that could inspire more terror attacks in the US soil like the one in San Bernardino, Obama said his administration will "ramp up countering that narrative online, working with local communities to prevent young Americans from IS recruitment."

Asked to predict the outcome of the 2016 presidential race, Obama, a Democrat, said he was confident that a Democrat candidate will win the White House again, and that the Democrats will win back the Senate.

Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State during Obama's first term, is currently the front-runner among the Democratic Party candidates for the 2016 presidential race.