Israel claims US synagogue attack was carried out by Hezbollah commanderʼs brother

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published a post on X claiming that the man who attacked a synagogue in the US state of Michigan on March 12 is the brother of the commander of the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.

Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali, who led armed operations in the Badr special forces unit responsible for firing missiles at Israel, was killed in an Israeli airstrike last week.

The man who attacked the synagogue is Ayman Muhammad Ghazali. According to IDF, he is the brother of the fallen commander.

The New York Times reports that Ayman was a naturalized US citizen born in Lebanon. A Lebanese official and a Muslim leader in Michigan said four of his relatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike on March 5. His brother Ibrahim and two children, as well as his brother Qassem.

A Hezbollah official (who spoke on condition of anonymity) denied that Ibrahim or his family were affiliated with the group. He told the NYT that the Michigan attacker was motivated by revenge for his family.

The Israeli military described the target of the strike on March 5 as a “Hezbollah military facility”, which it said housed fighters and weapons. A Lebanese official said the Israeli airstrike hit a three-story building and that Ibrahim’s wife was seriously injured.

According to Imam Hassan Qazvini of the Islamic Institute of America, the attacker attended a memorial service for his family members at a Michigan mosque on March 8. On the morning of March 12, Ghazali rammed a truck through the door of the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield and drove down the hallway. After a shootout with security guards, he committed suicide.

One security guard was injured. About 140 children and staff at the templeʼs preschool were evacuated. The US officials called it a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.

• On March 2, Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel in support of Iran in its war with Israel and the United States. This provoked waves of Israeli strikes on Lebanon and continued rocket fire from Hezbollah into Israel. According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, about 800 people were killed.

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