By Isabel Kershner and Natan Odenheimer, reporting from Jerusalem
The Israeli military said on Sunday that the brother of the man who drove a truck into a synagogue in Michigan last Thursday was a Hezbollah commander who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon earlier this month.
The synagogue attacker, Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, was a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Lebanon. Four of his relatives were killed in an Israeli airstrike on March 5: his brother, Ibrahim, and his two children, as well as another brother, Qassem, according to a Lebanese official and a Muslim leader in Michigan.
The Israeli military described the target of the March 5 strike as a Hezbollah “military structure,” where it said weapons were stored and operatives of the militant group were present.
The statement did not mention the deaths of any other family members.
The strike was part of an escalating cross-border battle between Israel and Hezbollah that began days after Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28.
Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel on March 2 in support of its patron, Iran, opening up a new front in the expanding conflict. That prompted waves of devastating Israeli strikes on Lebanon and persistent rocket attacks from Hezbollah on Israel.
Isabel Kershner, a senior correspondent for The Times in Jerusalem, has been reporting on Israeli and Palestinian affairs since 1990. “I write news stories, analysis pieces and more colorful features. To do so, I interact with officials and people from all walks of Israeli life, often traveling around the country. I also follow Israeli popular culture and enjoy writing stories about cultural events that stir internal debate.”
Natan Odenheimer is a Times reporter in Jerusalem, covering Israeli and Palestinian affairs. “I was born and raised in Jerusalem, speak Hebrew fluently and am proficient in Arabic. I was part of the Times team that won a Pulitzer Prize, Polk Award and Overseas Press Club Award for coverage of the Oct. 7 attacks and the ensuing war.”