Possibly, but how good do they need to be?
House to house fighting is rough stuff, made more difficult if you are trying to avoid civilian casualties. Of course, I doubt the Russians care as much about that. Even do, the German 6th Army in Stalingrad (arguably, the A-Team of the German Army at that time) certainly didn’t, and even they had a very rough time. As the Germans found out, using air power and artillery to root out defenders sometimes just makes defense easier. However, I suspect that ISIS won’t put up as strong a defense as the Russians at Stalingrad did.
“As the Germans found out, using air power and artillery to root out defenders sometimes just makes defense easier. However, I suspect that ISIS won’t put up as strong a defense as the Russians at Stalingrad did.”
This is true - tens of thousands of places to hide and gain the advantage in a city, even better if it’s rubble. We found that out at Monte Cassino, Italy.