The remains of the Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who was buried in Syria, “may be handed over to Israel soon,” Saudi channel Al-Hadath reported, citing sources.
The report comes against the backdrop of talks on a security agreement between Israel and Syria, and about a month after President Ahmad al-Sharaa said that “the talks may bring results soon.” Handing over the remains of the Israeli spy could serve as a Syrian gesture, and the report says there has been progress in talks to that end.
In an interview on ynet in May, his widow, Nadia Cohen, said she longs for the day he will be buried in Israel. “I want the body, I want Eli. I hope that before I die, before I close my eyes, Eli will have a grave here,” she shared.
The interview took place a few days after a Mossad announcement, on the 60th anniversary of Cohen’s being led to the gallows, that it had acquired in a covert operation some 2,500 documents, photographs and personal items of the spy whose body is still held in Syria.
“In a covert and complex operation by the Mossad for Intelligence and Special Operations, in cooperation with a strategic partner service, the official Syrian archive on Eli Cohen z”l was brought to Israel, containing thousands of findings that had been held by Syrian security forces in the strictest secrecy for decades,” the agency said.
The materials were brought to the country at a time symbolically close to the anniversary of his execution on May 18, 1965 in the main square in Damascus. Several original documents and personal items found in Syria were presented that day to his widow in the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief Dedi Barnea. Among the documents was the original will, which Cohen wrote hours before his execution, and which until now had only been publicly seen as a copy.
Cohen rejected in the interview the claim reported by Reuters that her husband’s documents and belongings were offered to Israel as a gift by the new Syrian president, intended to calm tensions between the countries.
“I only believe in our Mossad,” she said. “They on their own and in a covert action brought these things. I don’t believe al-Julani gave such a gift. Why would he not keep it for himself? I hope they will find Eli and bring him to burial.”
About the returned materials she said: “I saw a whole archive of a man who acted for the state. It included the keys to his apartment, the forged passport, the letters he wrote before his death. They only allowed him to write in Arabic. The documents were preserved and they look great even after 60 years.”