Man who attacked Michigan synagogue lost two brothers, niece, nephew in Israeli airstrike on Lebanon last week

Ahram Online , Friday 13 Mar 2026

A man with a rifle who crashed into a large Michigan synagogue in what federal officials say was an attack had lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon last week, an official said Friday.

Law enforcement respond to a call at Temple Israel synagogue Thursday, March 12, 2026, in West Bloomfield Township, Mich. (AP Photo)

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, a naturalized US citizen born in Lebanon, was killed by security after ramming into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit and driving down a hallway in a vehicle that then caught fire, according to authorities.

The FBI, which is leading the investigation, described the attack on one of the nation’s largest Reform synagogues as an "act of violence targeting the Jewish community."

The synagogue's staff, teachers, and 140 children at its early childhood center were not injured, according to Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard.

AP had reported that an Israeli airstrike hit Ayman's family home in Mashgharah, a town in the Beqaa Valley, on 5 March just after sunset as they were breaking their Ramadan fast, killing brothers Kassim and Ibrahim Ghazali and Ibrahim’s two children, Ali and Fatima.

The current wave of relentless Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon has killed more than 773 and wounded more than 12,000, destroyed tens of homes and buildings, and displaced nearly a million people.