Israeli officials are reportedly leveraging the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria to search for the burial site of renowned spy Eli Cohen, according to a Lebanese media outlet citing diplomatic sources.
Eli Cohen, who was executed by Syria in 1965, was hanged publicly in Damascus. Efforts to uncover his final resting place have been ongoing for years.
The Hezbollah-affiliated newspaper claims that Israel has engaged in efforts both within Syria and through international channels to gather information about the location of Cohen’s grave.
According to the report, Israel has also renewed attempts to locate the remains of IDF soldiers Tzvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz. Both soldiers were declared missing in action following the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub against Syrian forces in Lebanon.
In February 2021, reports surfaced that Russian forces, working in coordination with Syrian authorities and under pressure from Israel, were searching the Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus for Cohen’s remains in an effort to return them to Israel.
The following month, it was reported that an item believed to belong to Cohen had been transferred to Israel. Sources from Syria speculated that the object might have been a document or an article of clothing associated with Cohen. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office denied these claims, and it remains unclear whether such an item was ever found.
{Matzav.com}
