Iran's missile attack on two American bases in Iraq in response the the U.S. strike that killed its top general is the culmination of nearly two years of steadily rising tensions since President Donald Trump withdrew from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

The U.S. killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was meant to cripple Tehran's clout in the Middle East, but analysts see the allies of the Islamic Republic closing rank instead.

As the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, Soleimani oversaw Tehran's interventions in regional power struggles from Lebanon and Iraq to Syria and Yemen.

President Donald Trump campaigns on a no more "stupid" wars mantra, but the U.S. killing of Iran's military mastermind will test his ability to stay out of Middle Eastern quagmires less than a year from election day.

Since the day of his surprise election victory in 2016, Trump has signaled an end to what critics long derided as Washington's global "policeman" role.

From mobilizing its allies in the Middle East to blocking shipping in a strategic waterway or even launching a cyber attack far beyond its borders, Iran has no shortage of options to avenge the killing of top commander Qasem Soleimani by its arch foe the United States.

Tehran's clerical leadership promised "severe vengeance... in the right place and time," but is nonetheless expected to carefully weigh the dangers of retaliation to a regime that has been in place since the ousting of the pro-American shah in 1979.

The unprecedented American raid that killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad opens a period of uncertainty for the U.S. and their allies in the region.

It also raises questions over what happened, and what happens next.

The year 2019 saw an explosion of demonstrations across the world as people demanded an overhaul of entrenched political systems and action on climate change.

As chief of Algeria's military for a record 15 years, General Ahmed Gaid Salah became the country's de facto leader after longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in April.

His death from a heart attack at age 79, announced by state television on Monday, threatened to deepen Algeria's political crisis at the end of a turbulent year.

Turkey's parliament approved a security and military cooperation deal with Libya's U.N.-recognized unity government based in Tripoli on Saturday.

The Myanmar military launched a ferocious crackdown against its Rohingya Muslim population in 2017, driving around 740,000 into neighbouring Bangladesh.

Key dates in the history of Algeria ahead of its contentious December 12 presidential election.