Israel Recovers Eli Cohen’s Personal Archive in Secret Mossad Operation
Thousands of documents, photos, and personal items belonging to legendary Mossad spy Eli Cohen were retrieved from Syria in a covert operation, decades after his execution in Damascus.
Watan-The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Sunday the recovery of approximately 2,500 documents, photos, and personal belongings from the “official Syrian archive” related to Mossad agent Eli Cohen, who conducted espionage missions until his capture and execution in Damascus in 1965.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office read: “In a complex and secret operation conducted by the Mossad in cooperation with a partner intelligence agency, the official Syrian archive relating to Eli Cohen was recovered. The archive includes thousands of materials that had been held under tight security by Syrian intelligence for decades.”
During his four-year covert mission, Cohen built close relationships with senior political and military figures in Syria before being exposed by Syrian security services and executed publicly in Marjeh Square, Damascus, on May 18, 1965.
Eli Cohen’s Archive Recovered: Israel Hails Mossad’s Historic Intelligence Victory
The recovery of his archive, it said, reflects “Israel’s unwavering commitment to bringing home all our missing persons, prisoners, and hostages”—an implicit reference to those still held in Gaza since October 7, 2023.
The statement emphasized that retrieving these materials marks the culmination of “decades of intelligence, operational, and technical efforts by the Mossad to uncover any information about Cohen’s fate and burial site.”
It noted that multiple attempts had been made over the years, including operations “inside enemy states,” to determine what happened to Cohen.
Mossad Director David Barnea was quoted as saying that bringing the archive to Israel “is a significant achievement bearing the highest moral values and an additional step toward identifying his burial place in Damascus.”
Mossad Hands Over Secret Syrian Files to Eli Cohen’s Widow
The retrieved materials include Cohen’s original handwritten will, written hours before his execution; audio recordings and files from his interrogation and of those he contacted; letters to his family in Israel; and photos from his mission in Syria.
Also among the recovered items were personal possessions taken from his home after his arrest—fake passports, photos with high-ranking Syrian officials, notebooks, and diaries detailing Mossad operations.
One file labeled “Nadia Cohen” contained surveillance reports from Syrian intelligence on the campaign led by Cohen’s wife to demand his release.
According to the Israeli statement, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Mossad chief Barnea shared the archive with Nadia Cohen in a private meeting on Sunday.
This marks the second secret Israeli operation involving Syria announced since opposition factions toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime on December 8.
On May 11, Israel revealed a “special operation” in “deep Syrian territory” that recovered the remains of an Israeli soldier killed during a 1982 battle in eastern Lebanon.
A Palestinian official in Syria noted in December, shortly after Assad’s fall, that Israel was using intermediaries to locate the remains of Eli Cohen and another missing Israeli soldier.
Back in summer 2018, Israel had also announced the recovery of Cohen’s wristwatch—part of his fabricated Arab identity—through another special Mossad operation in a hostile country.
At that time, reports circulated about ongoing negotiations between Israel and Russia, Assad’s ally, to retrieve other personal items—and possibly the remains—of Eli Cohen.
