Israeli military officials said Sunday that the brother of the man who drove an explosives-laden vehicle into a Michigan synagogue was a Hezbollah commander killed in an Israeli strike days before the attack.

The disclosure came as U.S. authorities continued investigating the assault as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.

Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, 41, drove a vehicle into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township near Detroit on Thursday, and authorities later said he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after an exchange of gunfire with security officers.

The FBI said it was investigating the assault as a "targeted act of violence against the Jewish community."

The Israeli military identified his brother as Ibrahim Ghazali and said he was a Hezbollah commander responsible for weapons for a unit that fired rockets at Israel.

Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee said Ibrahim Ghazali was killed on March 5 in a strike on a Hezbollah military structure.

A local official in Mashgharah, Lebanon, said an Israeli airstrike on March 5 killed Ghazali's two brothers, a niece, a nephew, and seriously wounded the children's mother.

CNN reported that Ayman Ghazali, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Lebanon, had previously been flagged in U.S. government databases for connections with suspected Hezbollah members, though he was not believed to be a member himself.

The Associated Press also reported it was not immediately able to verify that Ayman Ghazali was a militant.

Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township was the target of the attack, which unfolded while children, teachers, and staff were inside the synagogue's early childhood center.

CNN said a security guard was injured, dozens of first responders were treated for smoke inhalation, and more than 100 children in the building were not injured.

There were 140 people in the center; one security officer was struck by the vehicle and knocked unconscious, but was not critically injured. Authorities discovered commercial-grade fireworks and jugs of suspected gasoline in the vehicle.

Investigators have not publicly established a motive, and federal authorities continue to examine Ghazali's background, the materials recovered from the vehicle, and whether any evidence links the Michigan attack to the allegations raised by Israeli officials.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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