Israel contacting 'foreign parties and Syrians' in an attempt to reach Eli Cohen's burial place: Al Akhbar

Israel has initiated contacts with "foreign parties and Syrians" in an attempt to locate the burial site of famed Israeli agent Eli Cohen, who was executed in 1965, the local newspaper Al-Akhbar reported, citing diplomatic sources.

Eli Cohen was an Israeli spy hanged in a public square in Syria in 1965 after infiltrating the highest levels of the Syrian regime. His intelligence work provided critical information that Israel used during the Six-Day War in June 1967.

Cohen entered Syria under the guise of a businessman named Kamel Amin Thabet, claiming to be from a Syrian family that had emigrated to Latin America. The information was reported by Haaretz.

Syrian authorities concealed his burial site, and Damascus consistently rejected all mediation efforts to exchange his remains for Arab prisoners.

On Sunday, Syrian rebel forces announced the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad's regime and the "liberation" of Damascus after a swift offensive, bringing over five decades of Assad family rule to an end.