US Sees Stalemate Forming In Libya
The Wall Street Journal reports:
The U.S. believes Col. Moammar Gadhafi has solidified control in parts of Libya, creating a stalemate with rebels and raising the stakes in the Obama administration's internal debate about whether to take military action to help the opposition, officials said.
Pro-regime forces pressed into the rebel-held city of Zawiya, near the capital, and appeared to have halted the opposition's momentum to the east in fighting Tuesday.
With the struggle appearing to settle into a standoff, the Obama administration, working with allies, looked into options for intervention, while the European Union prepared to announce broader sanctions on the Libyan government, including an asset freeze.
Rebels in their base in the eastern city of Benghazi, after first suggesting they had made an amnesty offer to the Libyan leader, denied any back-channel negotiations were under way.
After days of attacks and counterattacks, the opposing forces appeared to dig in east of the capital Tuesday, with rebels clinging to the oil-refinery town of Ras Lanuf and Mr. Gadhafi's forces solidifying their hold on the small town of Bin Jawad just to the west.
Rebels have taken heavy losses in their repeated attempts to take Bin Jawad. On Tuesday, Libyan state television broadcast images of dozens of bound men lying face down on the ground. It claimed they were captured rebel fighters.
Libyan government forces appear more cohesive and have been able to regroup, a senior U.S. official said.
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