Fighters in the Western Mountains, a rebel stronghold about 150 km (90 miles) south-west of Tripoli, built on gains made in the past few days by taking two villages from which pro-Gaddafi forces had for months been shelling rebel-held towns.
But the rebels are still a long way from Gaddafi's main stronghold in Tripoli, while their fellow fighters on the other two fronts -- in Misrata and in eastern Libya -- have made only halting progress against better-armed government troops.
"The revolutionaries (rebels) now control Zawiyat al-Babour and al-Awiniyah after pro-Gaddafi forces retreated this morning from the two villages," said Abdulrahman, a rebel spokesman in the nearby town of Zintan.
"The (government) brigades had been positioned in those two villages for three months. They posed a real threat from there," he told Reuters by telephone from Zintan.
The NATO military alliance, which has been pounding Gaddafi's military and command-and-control structures for nearly three months, has failed to dislodge him.
In a theatrical show of defiance, Libyan state television showed Gaddafi at the weekend playing a game of chess with a visiting Russian official.
Ties are becoming strained in the alliance, with some reluctant to commit additional resources needed to sustain the bombing mission in the coming months.
Adding to the pressure, Republicans in Congress are pressing President Barack Obama to explain the legal grounds on which he was keeping U.S. forces involved in Libya without the authorization of Congress.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet British Prime Minister David Cameron in London later on Wednesday to discuss the operation.
RESOURCES STRETCHED
A senior NATO commander appeared to raise questions about the alliance's ability to handle a long-term intervention.
"We are conducting this operation with all the means we have ... If the operation were to last long, of course, the resource issue will become critical," General Stephane Abrial said.
Saad Djebbar, a former legal adviser to the Libyan government, told Reuters Gaddafi would continue to play for time and seek to demoralize and split the coalition.
"Gaddafi's mentality is that as long as my enemies haven't triumphed, I haven't lost," he said.
"The U.S. stance, that the major outside role should be played by the Europeans and Arabs, sends the wrong signal. Gaddafi will be very encouraged by it. His line is 'We are steadfast. We can wait it out.'"
"The concerns being raised in the British parliament and the U.S. Congress, including questions like 'why are we spending so much?', will be of comfort to him," said Djebbar.
Gaddafi has said he has no intention of leaving the country -- an outcome which, with the military intervention so far failing to produce results, many Western policymakers see as the most realistic way out of the conflict.
The Libyan leader has described the rebels as criminals and al Qaeda militants, and called the NATO intervention an act of colonial aggression aimed at grabbing Libya's oil.
POTENT FORCE
Though under attack from NATO warplanes and rebel fighters, Gaddafi's troops have showed they are still a potent force.
A rebel spokesman in Nalut, at the other end of the Western Mountains range from Zintan, said Gaddafi's forces had been shelling Nalut and the nearby border crossing into Tunisia. The rebels depend on that crossing to bring in supplies.
"Gaddafi's forces bombarded Nalut ... Over 20 Grad rockets landed in the town. They bombarded from their positions ... around 20 km (12 miles) east of Nalut," said the spokesman, called Kalefa.
On Tuesday, the rebels tried to advance in the east of Libyan, setting their sights on the oil town of Brega to extend their control over the region, but they were unable to break through.
In Misrata, Libya's third-biggest city about 200 km (120 miles) east of Tripoli, rebels have been inching slowly west toward the neighboring town of Zlitan, but have frequently had to flee after coming under artillery fire.
The rebels there have expressed frustration that NATO is not more active at taking out Gaddafi's forces there, and is not doing more to coordinate with fighters on the ground.
On Tuesday, some rebels who had advanced toward Zlitan pulled back after NATO dropped leaflets warning of strikes by attack helicopters.
The leaflets were meant for forces loyal to Gaddafi, but they landed on ground the rebels had taken in the past few days, leaving many rebels fearful NATO helicopters would attack them by mistake.
At a command post on the outskirts of Misrata, a rebel named Jakup said: "Do I go back or do I go forward? Is it (the leaflet) for Gaddafi or for us?"
A Reuters correspondent in Misrata said there were no further advances toward Zlitan on Wednesday.
Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger will on Sunday visit the rebels in Benghazi to offer "concrete support," his office said, the latest in a series of such visitors.
Austria's oil and gas firm OMV used to get 10 percent of its oil, about 33,000 barrels per day, from Libya but says it has not had contact from either side since the conflict.
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