Michigan synagogue attacker was brother of killed Hezbollah commander

March 15 (UPI) -- The man who drove a car into a Michigan synagogue on Thursday is the brother of a Hezbollah commander killed in a strike in Lebanon last week, the Israeli military said on Sunday.

Israel Defense Forces said in a statement that Ayman Ghazali's brother was Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali, who managed weapons for a group linked to Hezbollah and was killed in a March 5 strike on a storage building used by the Iran-supported organization, CNN and The New York Times reported.

Ayman Ghazali on mid-day Thursday filled his vehicle with explosives and then drove it through the front doors of Temple Israel in suburban Detroit, driving "with purpose" down a hallway as a fire started in the vehicle. He died by suicide after exchanging fire with synagogue security.

Israeli officials said Ibrahim Ghazali's death and link to Hezbollah was confirmed, although U.S. officials said after the synagogue attack they did not believe that Ayman Ghazali was a member of the group.

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A Hezbollah official told The Times that none of the Ghazali family was involved with Hezbollah and that Ayman Ghazali attacked the synagogue over the deaths of four members of his family and injuries to other family members in Israel's airstrike 10 days ago.

Ayman Ghazali was a 41-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen from Mashghara, Lebanon, whose brothers, niece and nephew were killed during the strike as the family gathered to break fast during Ramadan.

Members of the Ghazali family and others near where the family lives told NPR they believe that Ayman Ghazali acted out of revenge for the deaths.

Ayman Ghazali's uncle, Fouad Qasem, told NPR that he pulled his nephews and other children from the three-story building's rubble and "held my own flesh and blood in my hands."

"What did the children do to deserve this?" he said.

A soccer coach of one of the people killed in the airstrikes on the town, which the news organization reported is visibly and vocally supportive of Hezbollah, said he does not excuse attacking innocent Jewish people in another country.

"We're not against Jews as Jews," Ibrahim Zeih said. "We are against the Israelis who are killing us daily."

Iran: Funerals held for those killed in airstrikes

Iranians attend a funeral for a person killed in recent U.S.-Israel airstrikes at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on the southern outskirts of Tehran in Iran on March 9, 2026. Photo by Hossein Esmaeili/UPI | License Photo