Israel’s military has claimed that the brother of the man who attacked a Michigan synagogue last week was a Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli airstrike. In a statement on social media, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said Ibrahim Mohamad Ghazali was a commander in a specialised unit responsible for launching rockets at Israeli civilians.
The IDF stated that Ibrahim Ghazali was “eliminated in an Israeli air force strike on a Hezbollah military structure last week”. His brother, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, attacked Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, on Thursday, driving a truck into the building and opening fire before shooting himself dead when confronted by security.
A security guard was injured in the exchange of gunfire. Authorities said the truck’s engine caught fire, igniting jugs of petrol and fireworks in its bed. None of the 103 children or nearly 50 staff inside were harmed.
A Hezbollah official told the New York Times that Ayman Ghazali’s attack was in revenge for the loss of four family members in an Israeli strike in Lebanon on 5 March. However, the official did not confirm whether Ibrahim Ghazali was a Hezbollah fighter. The IDF described the target of that strike as a Hezbollah military structure.
Ayman Ghazali, a naturalised US citizen born in Lebanon, attended a memorial for his slain relatives at a mosque in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, on 8 March. US officials have warned of the potential for lone-wolf attacks fuelled by the conflict in the Middle East, which has escalated since the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in February.
