The brother of a man involved in an attack on a Michigan synagogue last week was reportedly a Hezbollah commander, according to claims made by Israel's military on Sunday. Ibrahim Ghazali was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon on March 5, 2026, along with three other relatives of his brother, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali. This occurred just a week before Ayman drove his car into the Temple Israel synagogue located outside Detroit, where he subsequently took his own life after being engaged by security personnel.
Authorities have stated that the FBI’s Detroit office is currently investigating the synagogue attack, but they declined to comment on Israel's claims regarding Ibrahim Ghazali's background. FBI spokesman Jordan Hall emphasized the need for respect concerning the ongoing investigation and refrained from commenting on its specifics.
According to the Israeli military, Ibrahim Ghazali held a position as a Hezbollah commander responsible for managing weapons within a unit that had been involved in firing rockets into Israel. A Lebanese official, who preferred to remain anonymous, confirmed the death of Ibrahim Ghazali and revealed that his children, Ali and Fatima, along with his brother Kassim, were also casualties of the airstrike that targeted their home shortly after sunset.
It has been reported that Ayman Ghazali, aged 41, enacted the synagogue attack following the news of his family members' deaths in the Israeli airstrike. Israel has intensified its operations against Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed militant group, as the conflict with Iran continues to escalate violence throughout the Middle East.
On Thursday, Ayman Ghazali was observed waiting in his car outside the Temple Israel for about two hours, armed with a rifle, commercial-grade fireworks, and jugs of liquid presumed to be gasoline. He violently crashed into the synagogue, which was filled with dozens of children, and began shooting at an armed security guard. Authorities reported that Ghazali took his own life after becoming trapped in his vehicle when the engine caught fire. Fortunately, no children or staff inside the synagogue were injured due to enhanced security measures that had been recently implemented.
The FBI is leading the investigation and has classified the incident as an act of violence targeting the Jewish community, although they have not yet gathered enough evidence to label it as an act of terrorism. Ayman Ghazali entered the United States in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and gained U.S. citizenship in 2016. Prior to the attack, he resided in a single-story brick home in Dearborn Heights, approximately 38 miles south of the synagogue.
Coincidentally, the attack on the Michigan synagogue coincided with another violent incident occurring elsewhere, where a former Army National Guard member who previously served time for attempting to assist the Islamic State opened fire in a classroom at Old Dominion University in Virginia, resulting in one death and several injuries.
