Report: Russian soldiers search for Israeli spy Eli Cohen’s body

The London-based Arabic newspaper Rai Al-Youm, reports that Russia, in cooperation with the Syrian and under Israeli pressure, has been making “significant” efforts to locate the body of Israeli spy Eli Cohen in order to transfer it to Israel.

The report, which is based on unnamed “sources,” says that Russian soldiers arrived in the Yarmouk refugee camp in southern Damascus a few days ago for the search.

Cohen infiltrated the top levels of Syria’s political leadership in the years before the 1967 Six Day War, and information he obtained is credited with playing a key role in Israel’s stunning success in that war.

Mossad spy Eli Cohen, executed in Syria in 1965. (Israel GPO)

He was put on trial and executed by the Syrian government for espionage on May 18, 1965, after he successfully breached the Syrian government under the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet for four years.

Cohen’s body has not been returned from Syria, despite decades of appeals by his family. Israel has asked for Russia’s help in that effort, so far to no avail.

Previous reports about searches for Cohen’s body have turned out to be incorrect.