Opposition forces in Libya were dealt a major setback on Tuesday as pro-government forces threatened to re-capture Zawiya. According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. believes Col. Moammar Gaddafi's forces have solidifed their hold in parts of Libya, essentially creating a stalemate with rebel forces as the violence in Libya continues to escalate.

The Huffington Post reports: "After dramatic successes over the past weeks, Libya's rebel movement appears to have hit a wall of overwhelming power from loyalists of Moammar Gadhafi. Pro-regime forces halted its drive on Tripoli with a heavy barrage of rockets in the east and threatened Tuesday to recapture the closest rebel-held city to the capital in the west.

Rebel forces were also dealt a military setback in the outskirts of Ras Lanuf as part of a strengthening counteroffensive by the government.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

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.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that Libya's opposition forces are struggling to create a "united front." On Tuesday, the Times reported that "the opposition council’s leaders contradicted one another publicly."

According to the Times: "The question of the opposition’s capabilities is likely to prove decisive to the fate of the rebellion, which appears outmatched by government forces and troubled by tribal divisions that the government, reverting to form, has sought to exploit. Rebel forces are fired more by enthusiasm than experience. The political leadership has virtually begged the international community to recognize it, but it has yet to marshal opposition forces abroad or impose its authority in regions it nominally controls." 

“We’ve found ourselves in a vacuum,” Mustafa Gheriani, an acting spokesman for the provisional leadership, said. “Instead of worrying about establishing a transitional government, all we worry about are the needs — security, what people require, where the uprising is going. Things are moving too fast.”

As the violence increases, the Obama Administration is trying to determine if it should take military action in order to help the Libyan opposition forces. The U.S. is currently working with other countries to figure out what actions to take. On Tuesday, President Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the deepening crisis in Libya and agreed to plan for the "full spectrum of possiblities." Among the possibilities include imposing a no-fly zone, something possible 2012 Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said should start "this evening."  Gingrich also said the U.S. should act unilaterally.

"This is a moment to get rid of [Gaddafi]. Do it. Get it over with," Gingrich said.

A White House statement released on Tuesday said the two world leaders agreed that the objective must be end to the violence in Libya and the quick departure of Gaddafi. The European Union is also working on a broader list of sanctions against the Libyan government, including a possible asset freeze.