The FBI has concluded that the man who attacked a synagogue in Michigan earlier this month was inspired by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a 41-year-old naturalised US citizen originally from Lebanon, drove a truck into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township on 12 March before shooting himself inside the vehicle, which had caught fire.
FBI Detroit field office head Jennifer Runyan said at a press conference that Ghazali had frequently consumed Hezbollah-related content online. In a video sent to his sister ten minutes before the attack, he stated his intention to 'kill as many of them as I possibly can'. Runyan described the attack as 'a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism purposely targeting the Jewish community'.
Investigators found that Ghazali's online searches included pro-Hezbollah and Iranian news channels, videos about shootouts, and coverage of Hezbollah's secretary general. He also researched local synagogues, searching for phrases like 'largest gathering of Israelis in Michigan'. He attempted to delete his digital footprint but the FBI recovered hundreds of digital and forensic evidence items.
Ghazali entered the US in 2011 on a family visa and became a citizen in 2016. Earlier this month, he lost four family members in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. On the day of the attack, he posted photos of them on Facebook alongside images of Iran's former supreme leader, writing: 'We will seek retribution for his sacred blood.'
He tried to obtain a weapon from two individuals, both of whom refused, before purchasing an AR-style rifle, magazines, and ammunition from a local gun store. He also ordered water containers and researched firework vendors. Despite the attack, no one inside the synagogue was injured, including 140 children in the preschool.
