The FBI announced Monday that a deadly attack on a Michigan synagogue earlier this month constituted a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism.

Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Runyan of the FBI's Detroit field office stated during a press conference that the assailant, Ayman Ghazali, 41, purposely targeted the Jewish community and Temple Israel, the largest Jewish temple in the state. "Based on the evidence gathered to date, we assess this attack to be a Hezbollah-inspired act of terrorism," Runyan said. Investigators processed hundreds of digital and forensic items and conducted over 100 interviews despite the attacker's attempts to delete his online history.

Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen originally from Lebanon who lived in Dearborn Heights, rammed his Ford F-150 pickup truck into the synagogue's entrance in West Bloomfield Township around noon on March 12. The vehicle contained gasoline in water jugs and fireworks to amplify the damage. He exchanged gunfire with security guards, lit the incendiary materials, causing a fire and heavy smoke, and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

One security guard sustained injuries, and more than 50 responding officers received treatment for smoke inhalation, but no one else was harmed despite dozens of people, including 140 children in the preschool, being inside.

Evidence showed Ghazali's obsession with Hezbollah's militant ideology dating back months. His online searches included pro-Hezbollah news channels, coverage of Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, and an Iranian fatwa calling for jihad against the U.S. military. Days before the attack, he researched large Israeli gatherings in Michigan and Temple Israel's schedule, posting photos of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah to a Facebook album titled "vengeance." Ten minutes prior, he sent a video to his sister declaring his intent to kill as many people as possible at what he called Michigan's largest Israeli gathering.

Ghazali had lost two brothers, a niece, and a nephew in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon earlier that month; Israeli officials claimed one brother was a Hezbollah commander. He purchased an AR-style rifle, ammunition, and other materials shortly before the incident. The FBI found no evidence of co-conspirators or a directed Hezbollah plot, though Ghazali had a prior 2019 interaction with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The attack occurred amid heightened regional tensions, including U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran that killed Khamenei and ongoing Israeli operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which have killed over 1,200 people and displaced more than a million. Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue serving over 3,500 families, bolstered security following the incident.

U.S. Attorney Jerome Gorgon noted that if Ghazali had survived, he would have faced charges including providing material support to Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization since 1997. The investigation continues.