The man suspected to have launched a car ramming attack on a synagogue in the greater Detroit area yesterday lost several family members in an Israeli air strike in Lebanon last week, according to a local Lebanese official and a mayor in Michigan.
Law enforcement respond near Temple Israel following reports of an active shooter West Bloomfield, Michigan yesterday. Emily Elconin / Getty Images
Ayman Mohamad Ghazali was originally from Mashghara, a town in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley. Israeli air strikes on the town in the country’s south last week killed two of Ghazali’s adult brothers as well as Ghazali’s niece and nephew, the Lebanese official told NBC News.
The two brothers were known to be members of Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militant group, the official said. But it was not clear what role they played in the organisation or if they were the target of the strike.Â
Mo Baydoun, mayor of Dearborn Heights, a suburb west of Detroit, said that Ghazali, 41, a U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon, was a resident of the area.
“Earlier this month, he lost several members of his own family, including his niece and nephew, in an Israeli attack on their home in Lebanon,” Baydoun said in a statement posted to Facebook overnight.
A motive remains under investigation in the synagogue car ramming attack, in in which the driver was killed by security staff members.
Numerous federal and state law enforcement officials said that while they believe Ghazali is the alleged attacker, they are awaiting forensics to confirm the identity because the driver’s body is so badly burned.
Hundreds in Lebanon have been killed and more than 750,000 people displaced in Israeli attacks, which were launched after Hezbollah struck Israel in retaliation for the war on Iran.