Michigan Synagogue Jihadi Linked to Hizballah Through Brother, Confirmed

Image: Jihad Watch

The brother of the man who drove a vehicle into a Jewish preschool in Michigan had served as a commander in Hezbollah, according to the Israel Defense Forces.

Ayman Muhammad Ghazali, 41, died after crashing his vehicle into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, on Thursday. Authorities said the incident involved a vehicle filled with fireworks and containers of gasoline.

In a statement released Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces said Ghazali’s brother, Ibrahim Muhammad Ghazali, oversaw weapons operations in a specialized branch of Hezbollah known as the Badr Unit. According to the IDF, the unit was responsible for launching hundreds of rockets toward Israeli civilian areas during the recent conflict with Iran.

Local officials also reported that several members of Ghazali’s family were killed earlier this month in Lebanon. Two of his brothers, along with a niece and a nephew, died in an Israeli airstrike on March 5 in the town of Mashgharah. A local official told the Associated Press that the strike occurred as the family had gathered to break their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Records from the Department of Homeland Security indicate that Ghazali entered the United States in 2011 as the spouse of a U.S. citizen and was granted American citizenship in 2016 during the Obama administration.

On the day of the incident, Ghazali reportedly drove about 38 miles from his home in Dearborn Heights, a Detroit suburb with a large Muslim population, to Temple Israel—one of the largest Reform synagogues in the United States, which also houses a school and early childhood center.

After crashing the vehicle, he reportedly exchanged gunfire with an armed security guard. Authorities say he later fatally shot himself after becoming trapped inside the burning vehicle.

(This Article was originally published by Jihad Watch)