Hezbollah-linked Lebanese paper reports 2,500 items tied to Israeli spy were stored near Assad’s palace and remained untouched during Syria’s civil war; materials may have reached Israel via Turkish intelligence
On Sunday, exactly 60 years after Israeli spy Eli Cohen was executed in Damascus, the Mossad intelligence agency announced it had obtained some 2,500 documents, photographs and personal items related to his espionage activities. It now appears the transfer was far from routine.
According to Syrian sources quoted by Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar on Tuesday, the materials were stored in the archives of Syria’s National Security Bureau—an agency formerly headed by senior intelligence official Ali Mamlouk—and were found a few hundred feet from the residence of former President Bashar Assad. Unlike other security installations, this site remained unbreached even during the early days of Syria’s civil war.
According to the report, the documents did not reach Israel through a “regular” intermediary, raising speculation that they were deliberately leaked. The article points to Turkish intelligence as a likely source, possibly in the context of quiet contacts between Ankara and Jerusalem over regional issues, especially Syria.
Sophie Ben-Dor, Cohen’s daughter, told Ynet in an interview that she hopes the recovered items may contain clues to her father’s burial place in Syria. “I really hope they’ll uncover hints or connections to people who might know,” she said. “The problem is there’s no clear lead, no one who knows for certain. There are many who claim to know, who try to sell information, who want to be part of the story or profit from it. Mossad has a lot of work to do to find the real thread.”
Ben-Dor believes those clues may be with Bashar Assad. “I hope Trump will help us with this. I hope he’ll help us with Putin, who might be able to speak with Assad and get information from him,” she said. “I’m really asking this of him. I don’t think many people know this secret—where my father is buried. If there’s any chance, it’s through Assad.”
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She added that over the years, there had been attempts to reach Bashar Assad through individuals close to Putin. “We tried for many years, but our ties with Putin weakened. I hope we can get to him through Trump.”
On Sunday, as Mossad announced the recovery of the rare items in a complex operation, Cohen’s widow, Nadia, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad Director David Barnea. “They drove my mother to meet with the prime minister and the Mossad chief, and they told her about it,” Ben-Dor recounted.
At that meeting, Netanyahu and Barnea revealed the nature of the materials, including original documents and personal effects—among them, the original version of Cohen’s last will, which he wrote just hours before his execution. Until now, only a copy had been made public. “Only when my mother left the meeting on her way back from Jerusalem did she tell us about the documents that had been brought to Israel in the operation,” Ben-Dor added.
“I’ll read them with reverence to understand what my father went through. I’ll glean every shred of information from them,” said Ben-Dor, who grew up viewing her father as a symbol of courage and sacrifice for Israel’s security. “There’s the personal side of Eli Cohen as a father, a husband and a family man, and there’s the national side—his contribution to Israel’s security and his work for the country. For me, the documents are another piece of reality about my father.”
The 'Last Kisses' letter to Nadia
The newly unveiled archive of approximately 2,500 documents, photographs and personal belongings belonging to Cohen reveals previously unseen material gathered by Syrian intelligence after his arrest in January 1965. The collection includes audio recordings, investigative files on Cohen and his contacts, handwritten letters to his family in Israel, photos from his time undercover in Syria and personal items taken from his home after his capture.
Among the many files uncovered is a thick orange folder titled “Nadia Cohen.” A review of its contents shows that Syrian intelligence closely monitored the efforts of Cohen’s widow to secure his release from prison, including letters she sent to international leaders and to the Syrian president himself pleading for his freedom.
The archive also contains deeply personal letters Cohen wrote to his family. In one letter, written in Arabic after his arrest and before his trial in Syria, Cohen addresses his wife with a heartfelt farewell.
“To my wife Nadia and my dear family,” he wrote, “I am writing you my final words and asking you to remain forever connected with one another.”
Turning directly to Nadia, he continued, “I ask your forgiveness, Nadia. Take care of yourself and the children. Make sure they receive a full education. Deprive neither yourself nor them of anything, and always stay in touch with my family. You may remarry, so the children will not grow up without a father. You have my full blessing to do so. Please don’t waste your time crying over what was—always look toward the future.”
“These are the last kisses I send to you, to Sophie, to Iris, to Shaul and to all our family—especially my mother Odette and her family, Maurice and his family, Ezra and his family and Albert and his family. And don’t forget your dear family—send them my final greetings and all my longing. And don’t forget to pray for the souls of my father and me. To all of you—my last kisses and farewell.”
Ynetnews
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