The brother of the man who carried out Thursday’s attack at a West Bloomfield Township synagogue was a Hezbollah commander, the Israel Defense Forces said Sunday.
The IDF tweeted a post on X that identified the commander as Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali, saying he managed weapons operations in a specialized branch of Hezbollah’s Badr Unit, which it said has “launched hundreds of rockets toward Israeli civilians during the war.” The post said Ibrahim Ghazali was killed last week in an Israeli Air Force strike on a Hezbollah military structure.
“Hezbollah commander Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali was responsible for managing weapons operations within a specialized branch of the Badr Unit,” IDF said in the post. “The unit is responsible for launching hundreds of rockets toward Israeli civilians throughout the war. His brother, Ayman Muhammad Ghazali, carried out the terror attack in Michigan this past Thursday. Ibrahim was eliminated in an IAF strike on a Hezbollah military structure last week.”
In Michigan, authorities have identified the attacker of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township as Ayman Ghazali, 41, of Dearborn Heights. Ghazali is accused of driving a truck into Temple Israel just after noon Thursday and opening fire before exchanging gunfire with security guards, according to the FBI.
U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed that any of Ghazali’s relatives were affiliated with Hezbollah or that the Michigan attack was connected to an international terrorist organization.
Two sources briefed on the investigation told The Detroit News that Ayman Ghazali had relatives killed in a recent military strike in the country in Lebanon.
According to the Associated Press, an Israeli airstrike on March 5 killed two of Ghazali’s brothers — Ibrahim and Kassim Ghazali — along with two of Ibrahim’s children, while Ibrahim’s wife was seriously wounded. A local official in the Lebanese village of Mashgharah told the AP the family was gathered for the Ramadan fast-breaking meal when the strike occurred.
Israeli authorities had warned residents in Beirut and surrounding areas to evacuate ahead of airstrikes after Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel, according to Reuters.
What U.S. authorities have said about Temple Israel-Hezbollah connection
Federal investigators are continuing to examine Ghazali’s background and potential motivations. FBI investigators said they are treating what happened at Temple Israel as a “targeted” act of violence against the Jewish community.
Asked if Ghazali’s family members were members of the terrorist group Hezbollah, FBI Detroit Field Office Special Agent In Charge Jennifer Runyan said Friday that she was “aware of” that possibility.
“That is part of our own investigation at this time,” Runyan said.
The IDF’s description of Ibrahim Ghazali should be considered an allegation, not a fact, unless it’s independently verified, said Saeed Khan, associate professor of teaching in Near Eastern Studies at Wayne State University and director of the university’s Center for Study of Citizenship.
There is no evidence Ayman Ghazali is connected to Hezbollah or was operating under the group’s directive, Khan said.
Even if his brother was a commander in Hezbollah, “that may not necessarily have bearing on the actions of Mr. (Ayman) Ghazali, for whom it seems as though this was an act of retribution for the fact that several members of his family in Lebanon have been killed by an Israeli attack,” Khan said.
Ghazali had lived in the United States for more than a decade but kept strong ties with relatives back home, according to an NPR report on “All Things Considered.”
At the time of the airstrike, on March 5 as the sun set and the family prepared for iftar to break the Ramadan fast, they gathered at the home of Ibrahim Ghazali in the small town in the Bekaa Valley, NPR said. The town is home to about 25,000, with many who support Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States.
The house is now a pile of rubble.
A maternal uncle who lives down the street helped pull bodies from the ruins, where children’s toys lie covered in dust, and clothes were strewn about, he told NPR.
“I held my own flesh and blood in my hands,” Fouad Qasem said tearfully.
Ayman Ghazali, who worked at a restaurant in Dearborn Heights, entered the United States through Detroit in May 2011 on an immigrant visa as the spouse of a U.S. citizen, according to the Department of Homeland Security. He applied for naturalization in October 2015 and became a U.S. citizen in February 2016. He finalized a divorce in March 2025.