DAMASCUS – According to Palestinian sources, Israel is working through Russian mediators to locate the remains of the renowned Israeli spy Eli Cohen and a missing soldier in Syria. This effort represents another chapter in Israel’s longstanding mission to retrieve Cohen’s body and uncover the fate of its soldiers missing in action.
Palestinian officials disclosed to AFP that contact has been made with mediators to assist in finding the remains of an Israeli soldier missing since 1982. Although the soldier’s identity remains undisclosed, efforts are underway to determine the burial site of Eli Cohen, a spy executed in 1965 after infiltrating Syria’s highest government levels.
Cohen’s intelligence contributions significantly impacted Israel’s military strategy, particularly in the 1967 Six-Day War, where the Golan Heights were captured. His legacy continues to draw global attention, highlighted by the 2019 Netflix series “The Spy,” starring Sacha Baron Cohen.
In 2021, reports emerged of Russian forces searching Syria’s Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp for Cohen’s remains and those of two Israeli soldiers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also vowed efforts to bring Cohen home, three years after Mossad retrieved a watch belonging to him.
Russian mediation has previously facilitated successful recoveries. In 2019, Israel returned two Syrian prisoners in exchange for the remains of soldier Zachary Baumel, who had been missing since a 1982 battle in Sultan Yacoub. While Russia and Syria claimed responsibility for locating Baumel’s remains, Damascus denied involvement in the repatriation.
This ongoing search underscores the tense yet occasionally cooperative relations between Israel and Syria, mediated by Russia, which maintains close ties with the Syrian regime.
