The military of Israel announced on Sunday that Ibrahim Ghazali, the brother of a man who carried out an attack on a Michigan synagogue last week and was killed in an Israeli airstrike earlier in the month, was identified as a Hezbollah commander. Ibrahim Ghazali, along with three other relatives, was killed in Lebanon on March 5, just a week before the synagogue incident in Detroit, where Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his car into the building and later died.
The FBI’s Detroit office, currently handling the synagogue attack investigation, chose not to comment on Israel’s military assertions about Ibrahim Ghazali. According to FBI spokesperson Jordan Hall, no further details will be provided to respect the ongoing investigation.
Israel’s military claims that Ibrahim Ghazali had a role as a Hezbollah commander, responsible for overseeing weapons for a unit that launched rockets towards Israel. A Lebanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Ibrahim Ghazali’s death and mentioned that his children, Ali and Fatima, along with his brother Kassim, also perished in the airstrike on their home.
Hezbollah, in a statement sent to The Associated Press in Beirut, acknowledged that Ibrahim and Kassim were involved in a local soccer league and were targeted at their residence along with their children. However, the statement did not explicitly deny Ibrahim’s affiliation with the group.
Ayman Ghazali, aged 41, conducted the synagogue attack reportedly in response to the death of his family members in the Israeli strike. Israel has intensified its attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon amid escalating tensions with Iran in the region.
In the Detroit incident, Ayman Ghazali waited outside Temple Israel for approximately two hours with firearms, fireworks, and containers of a liquid believed to be gasoline before ramming his vehicle into the building. Following an exchange of gunfire with security, Ghazali fatally shot himself as his vehicle caught fire. Fortunately, no individuals inside the synagogue were harmed due to enhanced security measures.
The FBI, leading the investigation, characterized the attack on the synagogue as a violent act against the Jewish community but refrained from labeling it as terrorism pending further evidence.
Ayman Ghazali immigrated to the U.S. in 2011 on a relative visa and obtained U.S. citizenship in 2016. He resided in Dearborn Heights, a suburb of Detroit, located approximately 60 kilometers south of the targeted synagogue.
The assault on the Michigan synagogue coincided with another violent incident where a former Army National Guard member, previously convicted of aiding the Islamic State, opened fire in a classroom at Old Dominion University in Virginia, resulting in casualties.