The Israeli military says the brother of the man who carried out an attack on a synagogue in West Bloomfield was allegedly a commander with Hezbollah who was killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Authorities said Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, drove a truck into Temple Israel on March 12. The vehicle was reportedly loaded with commercial-grade fireworks and flammable liquid.
According to investigators, Ghazali exchanged gunfire with the synagogue’s security team before dying from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. One security guard was injured in the attack.
The Israel Defense Forces later claimed Ghazali’s brother, Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali, was a Hezbollah commander responsible for managing weapons for a rocket-launching unit targeting Israel. Israeli officials said he was killed in a March 5 airstrike in Lebanon.
However, the allegation has not been independently confirmed. A Hezbollah official reportedly denied that Ibrahim Ghazali had any affiliation with the group.
Officials say the synagogue attacker may have been motivated by the deaths of several family members, including his brother, who were killed in the strike in the town of Mashgharah during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation said the investigation into the attack is still in its early stages, and authorities have not yet confirmed a definitive motive.