The Head of the High Council of State (HCS) Khalid Al-Mishri, said they agreed with the Head of the Presidential Council (PC) Fayez Al-Sirraj on rejecting the transferring of Supreme Commander of the Libyan Army's rank to Khalifa Haftar.

Al-Mishri, in an interview with Libya Al-Ahrar TV channel on Sunday, said Haftar pressured Al-Sirraj by asking for the Supreme Commander post in exchange of Al-Sirraj remaining in the PC.

"The relationship between Haftar and the House of Representatives is loose. He lost the HoR as he ignored its role after it had made him a General Commander." Al-Mishri added.

He remarked that the HCS agrees with Haftar on the term "reorganizing the military institution" rather than "unifying" it, stressing the significance of resuming the Cairo meeting in that regard.

"The withdrawal of the Turkish delegation from Palermo Conference was because of the terms conditioned by Egypt's President Al-Sisi that Turkey should not be present in the meetings prior to the conference." Al-Mishri said.

He also said that Russia's envoy to the Palermo Conference confirmed in a two-hour meeting that Moscow is not biased to any party in Libya and the meetings Russians had with Haftar were protocol and not diplomatic.

Al-Mishri also said that the Russian official told him that Haftar's self-styled army was only a de facto force, citing an issue of legitimacy for all political parties in Libya.

"I expect HoR's Speaker Aqila Saleh will visit Tripoli soon upon my invitation." Al-Mishri added.