House to house fighting in an urban setting is very dangerous, both to the Marines going in and the city inhabitants. There are so many places to hide in a city and blowing a building to rubble may only make things worse. There is a chance it might not be necessary to go into the city in force.

Last night, two AC-130 gunships fired into the city and precisely took out their targets. Normally, these gunships only fly at night because they're vulnerable to shoulder launched SAMs and other antiaircraft threats. However, their 105mm cannon has an effective range of several kilometers, quite likely beyond small arms and shoulder launched missile range. Unlike ground based mortars and artillery, the AC-130 is a direct fire weapon that can both see and engage its targets very accurately. They can literally put a cannon shell into a specific window from miles away.

Attack helicopters have also proven vulnerable to ground fire, especially RPGs. However, if they're carrying Hellire missiles, they can be up to 8 kilometers from their targets and hit them with high accuracy. This approach may already be underway.

Instead of sending in large numbers of Marines, they might send in recon teams to probe for enemy locations, then call in strikes by AC-130s, A-10s, and attack helicopters. Harder targets can be attacked by planes like F-16s and F/A-18s, perhaps dropping laser guided concrete bombs (like they did last year in Baghdad) to limit collateral damage. In the meantime, the main force stays outside the city, keeping anyone from entering and detaining everyone who tries to leave.