Israeli kingmaker politician Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday refused to endorse a candidate for prime minister, blaming both the contenders engaged in a tense standoff that has paralyzed Israeli politics and pushing the country toward a likely third election in less than a year.

Lieberman's comments came ahead of a midnight deadline for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's rival, Benny Gantz, to form a coalition. Without Lieberman, Gantz appears unable to secure the required majority in parliament to be prime minister.

If Israel is forced into a third election, it would be entering uncharted waters, with opinion polls already predicting a very similar deadlock. But a new campaign could benefit the embattled Netanyahu, who is expected to be indicted on corruption charges in the coming weeks. Netanyahu would be best-positioned to fight any charges from the prime minister's office.

Lieberman, who heads a small secular, ultranationalist party, triggered the September election after refusing to join Netanyahu's traditional allies of hard-line and religious parties following earlier elections in April. The do-over vote left Netanyahu's Likud and Gantz's Blue and White party both short of a required majority in the 120-seat parliament without Lieberman's support.

Lieberman, who hails from the former Soviet Union, has objected to the outsize influence of ultra-Orthodox religious parties and has urged Netanyahu and Gantz to join him in a unity government as a way out of the stalemate. But Gantz and Netanyahu have refused to bend on their core conditions for such an arrangement.

After weeks of negotiations, Lieberman told reporters he wouldn't align with either party on its own.

"I made every effort. I turned over every stone," he said. "There were no significant gaps, they were mainly personal gaps and after it all, at least for now, it seems we are heading for another election."

Lieberman said he objected to Netanyahu's alliance with "messianic" religious parties, while he also accused Gantz of reaching out to religious parties and not negotiating in good faith.

"Who is to blame in this situation? Both parties together" he said. "There was an impressive blame game from both parties, but at the end it was a blame game, with no real will to take tough and dramatic decisions."

Gantz was given the opportunity to form a government last month after Netanyahu failed in the task.

A former military chief, Gantz has a midnight deadline to present a potential coalition government. If he fails, as expected, the country enters the final 21-day period for any candidate to present a majority before new elections are called.

But after weeks of failed talks, the odds of any candidate succeeding in forming a government appear low.

Both Gantz and Netanyahu have expressed a willingness to sit together in a unity government. But they could not agree on a power-sharing agreement.

Gantz's Blue and White party refuses to sit under Netanyahu while he faces such serious legal problems. Netanyahu refused to drop his alliance with smaller nationalist and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.

A dizzying array of mediations and creative political machinations failed to break new ground and a Netanyahu-Gantz meeting late Tuesday night produced no headway, resulting in just more mudslinging.

Netanyahu has lambasted Gantz and his fellow former military chiefs in Blue and White for dangling the prospect of a minority government in which Arab lawmakers would provide outside support without officially joining the coalition.

His comments have drawn accusations of racism and incitement, including a speech by Israel's President Reuven Rivlin, who criticized Netanyahu's "ugly" comments about Arabs.

A minority government could end Netanyahu's decade-long grip on power. But the hard-line Lieberman ruled out any alliance with the Arab lawmakers.

Barring a last-minute development, it looks like Gantz will be forced to inform Israel's president that he has no government to present — just as Netanyahu did before him — setting off the final 21-day period before new elections are called. The past two have been inconclusive and polls indicate the result of a third will not differ significantly.

"The truth must be said: Netanyahu is rejecting unity and will do anything to deteriorate us to a third election within a year," Gantz wrote on Facebook. "I am ready to make compromises for the benefit of the citizens of Israel but not to cave on our core principles."

Looming above the entire process is the long-expected announcement on Netanyahu's corruption indictment that could remove him from the equation and potentially provide a long-sought way out of the impasse.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has recommended that Netanyahu be indicted on fraud, breach of trust and bribery charges in three separate cases. His final ruling has long been anticipated and is expected in the coming weeks, perhaps sooner. Though Netanyahu will not be compelled by law to step down immediately, it will certainly harden the opposition's stance.

Rising regional tensions could also force the sides into compromise.

Israel carried out a wide-scale offensive against Iranian targets in Syria early on Wednesday in response to rocket attacks against it. Eleven people were reported killed, including seven non-Syrians who were most likely Iranian.

Israeli security officials expect Iran to respond, which could set off a direct confrontation, a week after the most intense fighting in Gaza in years. Against such a backdrop, the prospect of another dreaded election would weigh heavily on an already weary public.

Rivlin, among many others, has pleaded with the sides to find some sort of compromise to avoid another costly and divisive election campaign and even offered a power-sharing plan in which Gantz and Netanyahu would rotate as prime ministers. But among their other difference, they failed to agree on who would go first.

Israel is no closer to a breakthrough out of its political paralysis and with the clock running out late Wednesday on Benny Gantz's window to build a coalition government, the prospect of an unprecedented third election in less than a year appears increasingly likely.

Gantz, a former military chief, has a midnight deadline to present a potential coalition government. If he fails, as expected, the country enters the final 21-day period for a candidate to present a majority before new elections are called.

Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his chief challenger Gantz has the required majority to build a coalition government with like-minded allies. Kingmaker Avigdor Lieberman has refused to give either the nudge for the required majority in Israel's 120-seat parliament and has urged them to join in a unity government as a way out of the stalemate.

But Gantz and Netanyahu have refused to bend on their core conditions for such an arrangement.

Gantz's Blue and White party refuses to sit under Netanyahu, who is expected to be indicted soon on corruptions charges. Netanyahu's Likud has refused to drop its alliance with other nationalist and ultra-Orthodox Jewish parties.

A dizzying array of mediations and creative political machinations failed to break new ground and a Netanyahu-Gantz meeting late Tuesday night produced no headway, resulting in just more mudslinging.

Netanyahu has lambasted Gantz and his fellow former military chiefs in Blue and White for dangling the prospect of a minority government that depended on the outside support of Arab lawmakers, drawing accusations against him of racism and incitement. Such a scenario could end Netanyahu's decade-long grip on power.

But with the hard-line Lieberman's long-time animosity toward the Arab lawmakers and his insistence on a unity government that pushes out ultra-Orthodox parties, that doesn't appear to be a real option.

Lieberman has been holding his cards close for weeks and is expected to speak later Wednesday on where he stands.

"The truth must be said: Netanyahu is rejecting unity and will do anything to deteriorate us to a third election within a year," Gantz wrote on Facebook. "I am ready to make compromises for the benefit of the citizens of Israel but not to cave on our core principles."

Barring a last-minute development, it looks like Gantz will be forced to inform Israel's president that he has no government to present — just as Netanyahu did before him — setting off the final 21-day period before new elections are called. The past two have been inconclusive and polls indicate the result of a third will not differ significantly.

Looming above the entire process is the long-expected announcement on Netanyahu's corruption indictment that could remove him from the equation and potentially provide a long-sought way out of the impasse.

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit has recommended that Netanyahu be indicted on fraud, breach of trust and bribery charges in three separate cases. His final ruling has long been anticipated and could come down in the coming week. Though Netanyahu will not be compelled by law to step down immediately, it will certainly harden the opposition's stance.

Rising regional tensions could also force the sides into compromise.

Israel carried out a wide-scale offensive against Iranian targets in Syria early on Wednesday in response to rocket attacks against it. Eleven people were reported killed, including seven non-Syrians who were most likely Iranian.

Israeli security officials expect Iran to respond, which could set off a direct confrontation, a week after the most intense fighting in Gaza in years. Against such a backdrop, the prospect of another dreaded election would weigh heavily on an already weary public.

President Reuven Rivlin, among many others, has pleaded with the sides to find some sort of compromise to avoid another costly and divisive election campaign.

Iraqi security officials say at least 27 protesters have been wounded in renewed clashes overnight in central Baghdad.

The officials say the clashes occurred between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Wednesday near the Ahrar Bridge in the center of the capital. They spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations.

Iraqi security forces used tear gas to repel demonstrators from advancing to the fortified Green Zone, the seat of government. There were no fatalities.

The protesters had occupied one side of the bridge, with security forces deployed on the other.

At least 320 protesters have been killed and thousands wounded since the unrest began on Oct. 1, when tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets outraged by government corruption and poor basic services despite Iraq's vast oil wealth.

The Israeli military said it struck dozens of Iranian targets in Syria on Wednesday, carrying out a "wide-scale" strike in response to rocket fire on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights the day before.

A Britain-based war monitoring group said the Israeli airstrikes killed 11 people, including seven non-Syrians who are most likely Iranians. Syrian state media only reported that two civilians were killed.

The Israeli military said its fighter jets hit multiple targets belonging to Iran's elite Quds force, including surface-to-air missiles, weapons warehouses and military bases. After the Syrian military fired an air defense missile, the Israeli military said a number of Syrian aerial defense batteries were also destroyed.

The death toll of 11 was reported by Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group with a network of activists across Syria.

The Observatory said the airstrikes targeted arms depots belonging to the Quds Force in the Damascus suburbs of Kisweh and Qudsaya. Abdurrahman added that several other areas were targeted in Wednesday's strikes, including the Mazzeh airbase in western Damascus where air defense units are stationed.

Syria's state SANA news agency said the two civilians were killed by shrapnel when an Israeli missile hit a house in the town of Saasaa, southwest of Damascus. It said several others were wounded, including a girl in a residential building in the suburb of Qudsaya, also west of the Syrian capital.

It claimed that Syrian air defenses destroyed most of the Israeli missiles before they reached their targets.

The strikes further burst into the open what's been a long shadow war between Israel and its archenemy Iran. The two foes have increasingly clashed over what Israel says is Iran's deeper presence along its borders.

"Yesterday's Iranian attack towards Israel is further clear proof of the purpose of the Iranian entrenchment in Syria, which threatens Israeli security, regional stability and the Syrian regime," the military said in a statement, adding that it would "continue operating firmly and resolutely" against Iran in Syria.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a military spokesman, said the significance of the operation was the "multitude of targets" hit.

Several important targets were struck, he said, including what he described as the Iranian headquarters at Damascus airport where senior Iranian officials are based and which is used to coordinate shipments from Iran to its allies in Syria and beyond. He added that Israel also holds Syria responsible for hosting the Iranians.

Tuesday's rocket fire on the Golan was the sixth attempt by Iran to attack Israeli targets since February 2018, and all have been thwarted, Conricus said.

While Israel faces tensions with Iranian proxies along its borders, Iran's regional influence is also being challenged by unprecedented, economically-driven mass protests in Iraq and Lebanon — two countries where Tehran wields major influence. The protests are creating unrest that Tehran fears would spark a backlash against Iran-backed proxy militias in those countries.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a series of warnings recently about Iranian aggression throughout the Middle East and has vowed to respond firmly.

"I made it clear: whoever harms us, we will harm them. That's what we did tonight," he said early Wednesday. "We will continue to aggressively protect Israel's security."

Israel's new hard-line defense minister, Naftali Bennett, issued an equally firm statement.

"The rules have changed: whoever fires on Israel during the day will not sleep at night," he said. "Our message to the leaders of Iran is simple: you are no longer immune. Any place you dispatch your tentacles, we will chop them off."

The rare rocket fire came a week after an Israeli airstrike against a top Palestinian militant based in Syria. Akram al-Ajouri, a member of the leadership of the militant Islamic Jihad group who is living in exile, survived the attack but his son and granddaughter were killed.

Israel frequently strikes Iranian interests in Syria. But last week's airstrike appeared to be a rare assassination attempt of a Palestinian militant in the Syrian capital. It came the same day as another Israeli airstrike killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza, settling off the fiercest round of fighting there in years.

Iran has forces based in Syria, Israel's northern neighbor, and supports Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. In Gaza, it supplies Islamic Jihad with cash, weapons and expertise.

Netanyahu also has claimed Iran is using Iraq and far-off Yemen, where Tehran supports Shiite Houthi rebels at war with a Saudi-led coalition backing the government, to plan attacks against Israel. Hamas also receives some support from Iran.

The Syrian air defenses on Wednesday responded to foreign missile strikes on Damascus, state media reported.

The air defenses intercepted a number of missiles in southern Damascus, said the state TV.

Sound of explosions was reverberating across the capital city early Wednesday morning, it reported.

The Syrian army said in a statement that Israeli warplanes from the occupied Golan Heights and the Lebanese Marj Oyoun area targeted the vicinity of Damascus with a number of missiles.

"Our air defenses were able to intercept the hostile missiles, destroying most of them before reaching their targets," said the statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israeli airstrikes targeted areas southwest of the capital Damascus.

The Israeli strikes targeted the launching points of missiles that were fired earlier from Syria on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, said the Observatory.

Syrian media outlets also reported the sound of explosions, saying it happened near the Damascus international airport.