DETROIT (AP) — A man who crashed his pickup truck into a Detroit-area synagogue earlier in March was carrying out an attack inspired by the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, the FBI said Monday.
Ayman Ghazali made a video before the attack at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, saying he wanted to “kill as many of them as I possibly can,” said Jennifer Runyan, head of the FBI in Detroit.
Ghazali, 41, of Dearborn Heights sat in the parking lot for a few hours on March 12 before smashing his pickup through closed doors and into the hallway of an early childhood education area, striking a security guard.
He then exchanged gunfire with another guard before fatally shooting himself, the FBI said at the time. The Ford F150, stocked with commercial-grade fireworks and jugs of gasoline, caught fire during the confrontation.
First responders quickly cleared the building, and no one among the 150 children and staff was injured, officials said.
Ghazali’s ex-wife had called police in Dearborn Heights around the time of the attack to warn that he seemed distraught and suicidal after losing several family members during the Israeli airstrike in his native Lebanon, according to 911 audio. The strike came days into the Iran war with Israel and the U.S. that began Feb. 28.
Israel’s military said a brother, Ibrahim Ghazali, who was killed in the airstrike, was a Hezbollah commander in Lebanon. National intelligence director Tulsi Gabbard told a Senate committee that Ayman Ghazali had family ties “to a Hezbollah leader.”
Founded in 1982 during Lebanon’s civil war, Hezbollah initially was devoted to ending Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon. Israel withdrew by 2000, but Hezbollah has continued its battle and seeks Israel’s destruction. The U.S. for years has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist group.
Hezbollah is also a political party, with lawmakers in the Lebanese parliament, and has had representatives in most Lebanese governments for decades.
The Michigan synagogue that was attacked is part of Reform Judaism, the largest branch of the religion in North America, which emphasizes progressive values such as social justice and gender equality. According to the Union for Reform Judaism, Temple Israel’s congregation is the second-largest in the denomination. The synagogue was founded in 1941 in Detroit, relocated to suburban West Bloomfield in the 1980s and counts over 12,000 members, according to the temple’s website.
The attack was the latest in a spate of recent attacks targeting religious buildings — which has intensified fear among religious leaders and worshippers worldwide.
