Deputy Lebanese army intelligence chief Col. Abbas Ibrahim has informed leaders of various Palestinian factions the need to hand over Awad "as soon as possible."

"The army will not tolerate excuses not to hand over the suspects," the report quoted Ibrahim as telling Palestinian officials he met.

The Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon are off state authority control. The Lebanese army is not allowed to enter the camps according to an agreement with the settled Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

Palestinian sources said that Awad moved Monday night from his hideout in Ain el-Helwe camp to a nearby neighborhood.

Fattah al-Islam suspects arrested by the Lebanese army last month have confessed that Awad took over the leadership of the group after previous leader Shaker Abssi escaped from the Naher al-Bared camp during the fighting with the Lebanese army in 2007.

The Lebanese army fought 15-week fierce battles with Fattah al-Islam militant in 2007, during which 400 people were killed. -Xinhua