There is a report that the U.S. has stepped up the use of special operators in Mosul.  This is pretty standard in advance of a push to take the city.  Throw a loose cordon around the city.  Use nighttime raids against high value targets to disrupt command and control and demoralize the insurgents by getting them thinking that there is no place to hide.  Then faint on one side of the city and advance in force elsewhere.  It is what we did to take Ramadi from Al Qaeda.  We sent Task Force 145, composed of Delta and SEALs to get the leaders before the Marines went in.