Israeli spy Eli Cohen (left) at his trial. Archive photo/AFP
Two Palestinian officials told AFP on Monday that Israel, via Russian mediators, is seeking to locate the remains of renowned Israeli spy Eli Cohen and a missing soldier in Syria.
Israel has spent years trying to recover and repatriate Cohen’s body. In 2021, a war monitor reported that Russian forces were searching the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus for his remains, along with those of two Israeli soldiers.
A Palestinian official in Damascus said on Monday, “Contact was established with us via mediators to help locate the remains of an Israeli soldier missing since 1982,” without identifying the soldier.
“Contacts are also underway to determine the burial site of the Israeli agent known as Eli Cohen,” the source added, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
A second Palestinian official, based outside Syria and also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Russia is mediating the effort with Palestinian officials abroad.
Cohen was captured, tried, and hanged for espionage by Syrian authorities in 1965 after infiltrating the upper echelons of the government.
The intelligence Cohen gathered is believed to have played a crucial role in Israel’s capture of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. His story was the subject of the 2019 Netflix series “The Spy,” starring Sacha Baron Cohen.
In 2021, Israel’s then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated he was working to repatriate Cohen’s remains, three years after the Mossad intelligence agency announced it had recovered Cohen’s watch and brought it back to Israel.
Syria and Israel have long been bitter adversaries with no diplomatic ties, but Russia—closely allied with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad—has served as an intermediary between the two nations.
In 2019, Israel released two Syrian prisoners as a “goodwill gesture” following the return of the remains of Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel, who had been missing since 1982. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the remains were found by Russian and Syrian forces, though a Syrian official denied knowledge of the repatriation efforts or details surrounding the discovery.
Israeli soldiers fought against Syrian forces in June 1982 during a battle in the Lebanese village of Sultan Yacoub near the Syrian border. Baumel and two other soldiers, Zvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz, were subsequently listed as missing and presumed dead. Feldman and Katz remain unaccounted for.