WASHINGTON — NATO plans to step up attacks on the palaces, headquarters and communications centers that Moammar Gadhafi uses to maintain his grip on power in Libya, according to Obama administration and allied officials.

White House officials said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the more energetic bombing campaign, which included a strike early on Monday on Gadhafi’s residential compound in the heart of Tripoli, the capital.

U.S. officials said the effort was not designed to kill the Libyan leader, but to bring the war to his doorstep, raising the price of his efforts to continue to hold on to power. “We want to make sure he knows there is a war going on, and it’s not just in Misrata,” said a senior administration official, who insisted on anonymity in discussing military planning.

The NATO campaign, some officials said, arose in part from an analysis of Gadhafi’s reaction to the bombing of Tripoli that was ordered by President Ronald Reagan a quarter-century ago. Alliance officials concluded that the best hope of dislodging the Libyan leader and forcing him to flee was to cut off his ability to command his most loyal troops.

But the attacks also reflect a broadening of alliance targets at a time when the rebels and the government have consolidated their positions along more static front lines, raising concerns of a prolonged stalemate. Although it is too soon to see results from the recent shift, a NATO official said Tuesday that the alliance was closely watching early signs, like the recent reports of desertions from the Libyan Army.

NATO planes pounded targets east of the port city of Misrata on Tuesday. The strike on Gadhafi’s palace and command center was denounced by Libyan officials as an assassination attempt.

Pentagon officials said the mission was against a legitimate military target and noted that it was carried out by F-16s from Norway.

But the view from the Kremlin was skeptical. At a news conference in Copenhagen, Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia on Tuesday was asked to elaborate on his comment that the U.N. resolution allowing airstrikes resembled “a medieval call for a crusade.” He responded by launching into an extended caustic attack on the NATO campaign, saying it violated the principle of sovereignty and the wishes of the Libyan people.