The chief of staff of forces fighting the Islamic State pushed back Friday against a news report that said the year-long campaign was in a "strategic stalemate."

"In my opinion this is not the same fight as it was when it started," Marine Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea told reporters at the Pentagon.

He said Islamic State forces were more on the defense and their attacks have been smaller, more focused and less enduring than they were since the U.S.-led effort against the militant group began.

Killea was responding to an Associated Press report that cited the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies that Islamic State is no weaker than it was a year ago in spite of billions of dollars spent, more than 5,600 airstrikes and the deaths of some 10,000 of the terror group's members.

The AP report said intelligence analysts see the situation as a strategic stalemate in which the Islamic State still can replenish its lost fighters and has expanded into Libya, Afghanistan and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula even as it loses ground in Syria and Iraq.