“You know, when I said no boots on the ground, I think the Amercan people understood generally that we’re not going to do an Iraq-style invasion of Iraq or Syria with battalions that are moving across the desert,” the president said in the second part of an interview, the first segment of which aired Wednesday evening as the shooting situation in San Bernardino, California, unfolded. “But what I’ve been very clear about is that we are going to systematically squeeze and ultimately destroy ISIL. And that requires us having a military component to that, and the 65-country coalition that we put together has been striking ISIL mercilessly.”

Obama also emphasized the importance of strengthening partnerships with “local tribes and Sunnis who are willing to fight ISIL,” adding that it has been his administration’s position that the strategy to defeat the terrorist group will be “continually” modified and adjusted based on ““those things that work and those things that may not work,” remarking that U.S. special forces are the best in the world.

“They’re not going to singlehandedly destroy ISIL, but what they can do is give us greater situational awareness on the ground, generate additional intelligence, work with local forces to develop smarter strategies, help direct where airstrikes are going to make the most difference,” he said.