Inside the Temple Israel Miracle: How 140 Children Escaped a Mortar-Laden Death Trap

An unusual terror attack against the Jewish community in the United States was prevented at the last moment when security guards neutralized a terrorist who rammed a vehicle loaded with explosives into the "Temple Israel" Reform center in West Bloomfield, Michigan.

The terrorist, Ayman Muhammad Azali, a 41-year-old American citizen born in Lebanon, raced his vehicle into the synagogue complex on Thursday. The vehicle crashed through the building's doors and continued driving down an internal corridor toward the onsite daycare center, where 140 children were present at the time.

The vehicle, which authorities say was loaded with mortar shells, burst into flames after the collision, igniting a fire. Synagogue security guards opened fire at him during the incident, and he was later found dead inside the burnt vehicle. Authorities are still investigating whether he was killed by the guards' gunfire or by the fire that broke out in the car.

Despite the severity of the incident, none of the children or staff members were harmed. All 140 children were quickly evacuated and moved to safety.

The synagogue's head of security was struck by the vehicle during the collision and lost consciousness; he was evacuated to a local hospital for treatment. Additionally, approximately 30 first responders were treated at hospitals for smoke inhalation from the fire that spread through the building.

The Oakland County Sheriff noted that the swift action of the trained security team prevented a much larger disaster. U.S. authorities have defined the event as a targeted attack against the Jewish community, and the FBI has opened a terrorism investigation.

According to Department of Homeland Security data, Azali was born in Lebanon in January 1985 and arrived in the U.S. in 2011 via Detroit on an immigrant visa for spouses of U.S. citizens. He became a citizen in 2016.

He lived in Dearborn Heights, Michigan—a suburb of Detroit with a large Lebanese community—and worked at a well-known local restaurant. While regular customers described him as the "face of the restaurant," coworkers noted he had been absent from work in recent weeks.

According to relatives, the motive for the attack was linked to events in Lebanon. The night before the attack, Azali posted photos on social media of family members killed in an airstrike in Lebanon. Reports indicate that several of his relatives, including two brothers and two children, were killed in strikes attributed to the IDF against Hezbollah targets about ten days before the attack.

The incident occurred amid rising tensions in the U.S. since the outbreak of hostilities between the U.S., Israel, and Iran. Simultaneously, the FBI is investigating a separate terror incident at Old Dominion University in Virginia involving a former ISIS supporter.