Ayman Mohamed Ghazali was born and raised in Mashghara, Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, seen here in 2019. Ghazali is a suspect in an attack on a synagogue in Michigan last Thursday.
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Joseph EID/AFP via Getty Images
Mashghara, Lebanon – As you arrive in this town in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, the first thing you notice is a poster of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, plastered across a concrete wall.
Normally around 25,000 people live here and many support the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.
Church bells ring, but there is no one in the streets. Shops are closed. More people have heeded evacuation orders as Israel continues its airstrikes in southern Lebanon. Recorded hymns echo from the church down the empty streets.
It’s the hometown of Ayman Mohamed Ghazali — the suspect who stormed the Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield, Mich., on Thursday, drove his car into the building and opened fire.
The 41-year-old naturalized US citizen died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being confronted by synagogue security officers, the FBI said.
Ghazali lived in the United States for more than a decade but maintained strong ties to relatives back home. Four members of his family were killed in Israeli airstrikes just as the war involving Iran began.
Ghazali was born and raised in Lebanon with his two brothers. He also had a niece and a nephew. All were killed in the airstrike. On March 5, as the sun was setting, he was breaking his Ramadan fast at the home of Ibrahim Ghazali, the attacker’s younger brother.
The house is now a pile of rubble. The roof is cavernous. Water leaks from a broken pipe. Clothes are strewn above. Children’s toys are covered with dust.
Fouad Kasem, Ghazali’s maternal uncle, lives on the street. She says she helped pull the bodies of her nephews and children from the wreckage that night.
“I hold my own flesh and blood in my hands,” Qasim says tearfully.
Qassem, like many here, says he is heartbroken by the loss — and angry by Israel’s relentless bombing. “What did the kids do to deserve this?” He asks.
The Israeli military did not respond to NPR’s questions about why the family’s home was struck. Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah after the militant group fired rockets into Israel early in the war involving Iran. On Sunday, Israel’s military said Ghazali’s brother Ibrahim, a Hezbollah commander, “is responsible for conducting weapons operations within a special branch of the Badr unit. The unit has been responsible for firing hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians throughout the war.”
Qasim remembers Ayman Mohammad Ghazali as a kind, well-mannered and gentle man and says that his nephews avenged the children’s deaths because they were so dear to him.
US officials say they are investigating why Ghazali attacked a synagogue in Michigan. But many in this town say they believe it is revenge. Many said that someone wanted to avenge the killing of their entire family.
Ibrahim Zeeh, the soccer coach of one of the slain brothers, says he understands the anger but says it is no excuse to kill other innocent people.
“We’re not anti-Jewish so much as anti-Jewish,” says Zeeh. “We are against the Israelis who are killing us every day.”
Mashghara Mayor Iskandar Barakeh says he worries about the cycle of violence. They fear that the town’s Lebanese Americans living in the United States could face retaliation.
“Everyone,” says Barakeh, “deserves to live in peace.”
Jawad Rizkalla contributed to this report from Mashghara, Lebanon.
