An Israeli military statement revealed that the sibling of the individual who carried out an attack on a Michigan synagogue last week was identified as a Hezbollah commander and was killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier this month. Ibrahim Ghazali, along with three other family members, lost their lives in Lebanon on March 5. This incident occurred a week before Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his vehicle into a prominent synagogue near Detroit and subsequently died after being fired upon by security personnel.
The FBI’s Detroit office, currently investigating the synagogue incident, chose not to provide any comments regarding the Israeli military’s claims about Ibrahim Ghazali. In an email statement, FBI spokesperson Jordan Hall mentioned that due to the ongoing investigation, they would refrain from discussing the matter in detail.
According to Israeli military reports, Ibrahim Ghazali held the position of a Hezbollah commander responsible for overseeing weapons for a unit involved in launching rockets at Israel. A Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the death of Ibrahim Ghazali and three other family members in the airstrike. The official disclosed that the strike, which occurred at sunset, claimed the lives of Ghazali’s children, Ali and Fatima, and his brother, Kassim.
Hezbollah, in a statement to The Associated Press in Beirut, acknowledged that Ibrahim and Kassim were engaged in a local soccer league and were attacked at home along with their children. However, the statement did not explicitly address Ibrahim’s alleged affiliation with the group.
Ayman Ghazali, aged 41, executed the synagogue attack after learning about the death of his four family members in the Israeli airstrike. Israel has intensified its operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon amid escalating tensions with Iran across the Middle East.
Ayman Ghazali, armed with a rifle, commercial grade fireworks, and suspected gasoline, waited outside Temple Israel near Detroit for approximately two hours before crashing into the building. He began shooting through the windshield and engaged in a gunfire exchange with a security guard. Subsequently, Ghazali fatally shot himself as he became trapped in his vehicle, causing it to catch fire.
The FBI, leading the investigation, characterized the attack on the synagogue as a violent act targeting the Jewish community but refrained from labeling it as an act of terrorism due to insufficient evidence.
Ayman Ghazali arrived in the U.S. in 2011 on a spousal visa and obtained U.S. citizenship in 2016. He resided in a single-story brick residence in Dearborn Heights, a Detroit suburb located around 60 kilometers south of the synagogue.
The incident at the Michigan synagogue coincided with a separate event where a former Army National Guard member, previously imprisoned for aiding the Islamic State, opened fire in a classroom at Old Dominion University in Virginia, resulting in one death and two injuries.