Israeli military claims brother of man who attacked Michigan synagogue
was Hezbollah commander
[March 16, 2026]
By JULIA FRANKEL AND BASSEM MROUE
JERUSALEM (AP) — The man who attacked a Michigan synagogue was the
brother of a Hezbollah commander killed earlier this month in an Israeli
airstrike, Israel’s military claimed Sunday.
Ibrahim Ghazali was killed in the March 5 strike in Lebanon along with
three other relatives of the attacker in Michigan — a week before
authorities allege Ayman Mohamad Ghazali drove his car into a major
synagogue outside Detroit and killed himself after security fired at
him.
The FBI's Detroit office, which is investigating the synagogue attack,
declined to comment on the claims by Israel's military about Ibrahim
Ghazali.
“Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, we will continue to
refrain from commenting on its substance,” FBI spokesman Jordan Hall
said in an email Sunday.
The Israeli military alleges Ibrahim Ghazali was a Hezbollah commander
who managed weapons for a unit that fired rockets at Israel.
A Lebanese official, who requested anonymity because he could not
publicly discuss details of the airstrike, has confirmed Ibrahim
Ghazali’s death. The official told The Associated Press that Ghazali’s
children, Ali and Fatima, and brother, Kassim, were also killed in the
strike that struck their home just after sunset.
In a statement sent to the AP in Beirut, Hezbollah said that the
brothers, Ibrahim and Kassim, were a referee in a local soccer league
and a scout member, and they were targeted at home along with their
children, but didn't explicitly deny that Ibrahim was in the group.
Authorities have said that Ayman Ghazali, 41, carried out the synagogue
attack after learning that four of his family members were killed in the
Israeli strike.
Israel has stepped up attacks on the Iranian-backed militant group
Hezbollah in Lebanon as the war with Iran has spread violence across the
Middle East.
On Thursday, Ayman Ghazali waited in his car outside Temple Israel, near
Detroit, for about two hours with a rifle, commercial grade fireworks
and jugs of liquid believed to be gasoline, before crashing into the
building full of dozens of children, according to authorities.
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Police tape hangs outside the Temple Israel synagogue Friday, March
13, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
He started firing his gun through the windshield, exchanging fire
with an armed security guard. Ghazali fatally shot himself after he
got stuck in his vehicle and the engine caught fire, said Jennifer
Runyan, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Detroit field
office. No staffers or children inside the synagogue were hurt,
likely due to beefed up security in recent months.
The FBI, which is leading the investigation, described the attack on
one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues as an act of violence
targeting the Jewish community. But the agency said it didn’t have
enough evidence yet to call it an act of terror.
Ghazali came to the U.S. in 2011 on an immediate relative visa as
the spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted U.S. citizenship in
2016, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
He lived in a single-story brick home in the Detroit suburb of
Dearborn Heights about 40 miles (60 kilometers) south of the
synagogue.
The attack on the Michigan synagogue took place on the same day as a
former Army National Guard member who served years in prison for
attempting to aid the Islamic State group opened fire on a classroom
at Old Dominion University in Virginia, killing one person and
wounding two others.
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Mroue reported from Beirut.
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