The FBI has confirmed that the man who attacked a synagogue in Michigan earlier this month was inspired by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a naturalised US citizen originally from Lebanon, drove his truck into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township on 12 March before shooting and killing himself inside the vehicle as it caught fire.
Jennifer Runyan, head of the FBI's Detroit field office, said during a press conference that Ghazali had frequently consumed Hezbollah-related content online. In a video sent to his sister ten minutes before the attack, he stated: 'This is the largest gathering place for Israelis in the state of Michigan in the United States. I have booby-trapped the car. I will forcefully enter and start shooting at them. God willing, I will kill as many of them as I possibly can.'
Runyan noted that Ghazali's online activity since January included searches for pro-Hezbollah and Iranian news channels, videos about shootouts and bullets, and coverage of Hezbollah's secretary general Naim Qassem. He also viewed material about an Iranian fatwa for total jihad against the US military. Ghazali posted photos on Facebook of deceased family members killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon, along with images of Iran's former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in US-Israeli strikes in February.
In the days before the attack, Ghazali researched local synagogues, searching for phrases such as 'largest gathering of Israelis in Michigan' and 'Israelis near me'. He attempted to obtain a weapon from two individuals, both of whom refused, before purchasing an AR-style rifle, magazines and ammunition from a local gun store. He also ordered a rifle pouch and water containers online, and researched firework vendors.
US attorney Jerome Gorgon compared the attack to the 1983 Hezbollah barracks bombing in Lebanon, stating: 'That is exactly what this terrorist did a few weeks ago in our backyard. He methodically planned, armed himself and then drove an explosives-laden truck into a temple filled with American children.' Despite the attack, no one inside the synagogue was injured, including all 140 children in the preschool. Multiple officers were treated for smoke inhalation.
