Israel's public broadcaster said on Wednesday the U.S. had authorised a "long term" Israeli troop presence in southern Lebanon, after sources told Reuters Israel had sought an extension to a Feb. 18 deadline to withdraw its forces.

Under a truce deal brokered by Washington in November, Israeli troops were granted 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon where they had waged a ground offensive against fighters from Lebanon's armed group Hezbollah since early October.

Hezbollah combatants were to leave the zone and Lebanese troops were to deploy in the area within the same period.

The initial deadline has already been extended from January 26 until February 18. A Lebanese official and a foreign diplomat in Lebanon told Reuters on Wednesday that Israel had now asked to remain in five posts in the south for a further 10 days.

Israeli public broadcaster KAN later cited senior officials in Israel's security cabinet as saying that the U.S. had granted Israeli troops permission to stay "in several locations" in Lebanon beyond February 18. It did not specify a new deadline.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S., Israel's closest military ally, chairs a committee that oversees the implementation of the Lebanon ceasefire.

ISRAEL TO 'REPOSITION' ITSELF IN SOUTH LEBANON

Later on Wednesday, Israel military jets broke the sound barrier over the Lebanese capital Beirut for the first time since the ceasefire was agreed.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment sent to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, but the head of the Israeli military's Northern Command said he believed the terms of the deal would be executed.

"I think we will indeed reposition ourselves next week and the agreement will be implemented," Major General Ori Gordon said on Wednesday, according to Israel's GLZ radio.

Israel's military spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X on Wednesday that Israeli troops remained in Lebanon after the first extension, and ordered Lebanese citizens not to return to their homes in the country's south "until further notice".

In a written statement, Lebanon's presidency denied reports that Beirut had agreed to a second extension and said President Joseph Aoun had "repeatedly stressed Lebanon's insistence on the complete withdrawal" of Israeli troops by Feb. 18.

The ceasefire deal ended more than a year of conflict between Israel's military and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah that was playing out in parallel with the Gaza war.

The fighting peaked in a major Israeli air and ground campaign that uprooted more than a million people in Lebanon and left the Iranian-backed Hezbollah badly weakened, with most of its military command killed in Israeli strikes.

Israeli forces have remained in parts of southern Lebanon and its air force has continued to carry out strikes across the country on what it says are Hezbollah weapons stores or attempts by the group to smuggle arms.

Hezbollah has said it does not accept Israel's justifications for staying in Lebanon and has urged Lebanon's government to ensure the troops leave. The group has not explicitly threatened to resume fighting.