A US District Court rejected on Tuesday Khalifa Haftar's effort to dismiss a pair of lawsuits against him brought by plaintiffs who said he was responsible for the deaths of their family members, citing sufficient evidence, including videos where Haftar ordered his forces to commit war crimes, for violation of US torture and war crimes law.

The court dismissed Haftar's claim of head-of-state immunity and gave the US Department of State 60 days to comment or else the claim would be invalid.

The presiding judge agreed to drop three charges from Haftar's lawsuits, including the participation of his sons Khalid and Saddam in committing war crimes for lack of evidence.

As a dual Libyan-American citizen, Haftar is facing lawsuits of war crimes and crimes against humanity as well as violations of human rights at a Virginia District Court.

Haftar, according to an earlier report by the Associated Press, tried to press the idea that he has a head of state immunity in Libya to evade prosecution, which the plaintiffs' lawyers rejected.