What was Michigan synagogue attacker's motive? FBI says man followed Hezbollah
What was Michigan synagogue attacker's motive? FBI says man followed Hezbollah
Michael Loria, USA TODAYMon, March 30, 2026 at 8:35 PM UTC
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The man who crashed an explosive-laden truck into a Michigan synagogue where scores of children were at daycare acted as an operative of Hezbollah, the foreign terrorist organization based in Lebanon, federal officials said March 30.
Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Lebanon, rammed a vehicle into Temple Israel on March 12, targeting one of the nation’s biggest synagogues located outside Detroit. The only person killed in the attack on the synagogue in West Bloomfield Township was Ghazali.
The 41-year-old man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the FBI said. The head of synagogue security was struck by Ghazali’s vehicle and hospitalized but was expected to recover.
According to FBI investigators, Ghazali had long followed Hezbollah’s propaganda, and at least one of his brothers was a known member of the group. That brother was killed in an Israeli attack on Hezbollah earlier in March amid the ongoing Iran war.
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But FBI Detroit’s Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan at a news conference criticized connecting the death of Ghazali’s brother and the attack on children in the United States.
"While the mobilization and radicalization we saw in earnest come after March 9, it’s almost immaterial," Runyan said in sharing the FBI’s findings. "It’s a terrorist attack against people that had nothing to do with his family."
The FBI update comes as the war with Iran stretches over a month, and Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in open conflict.
This is a developing story that will be .
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Michigan synagogue attacker motive: FBI says man followed Hezbollah
Source: “AOL Breaking”
