In a sophisticated covert operation, the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence agency, working alongside a strategic allied service, has successfully brought to Israel the official Syrian archive on the late spy Eli Cohen, who was executed by the Syrian regime. The collection contains thousands of items that Syrian security forces kept under highly classified conditions for decades.
The materials arrived in Israel at an emotionally significant and symbolic time – approaching the 60th anniversary of Cohen's execution on May 18, 1965, in Damascus's main Al-Marjeh Square.
During a special meeting held Sunday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad Director Dadi Barnea, Eli Cohen's widow, Nadia Cohen, was presented with several original documents and personal belongings recovered from Syria. Among the documents was the original will written by Eli Cohen just hours before his execution – until now, only a copy had ever been publicly revealed.
The exceptional archive includes approximately 2,500 documents, photographs, and original personal items, most being revealed for the first time. Syrian intelligence collected these materials following Cohen's capture in January 1965. The collection includes recordings and documentation from his investigation files and those of individuals with whom he maintained contact, handwritten letters to his family in Israel, photographs documenting his operational mission in Syria, and personal belongings seized from his residence after his capture.
Video: Eli Cohen's personal items retrieved / Credit: PMO
The recovery of these historic materials represents the culmination of decades of work by intelligence, operational, and technological elements within the Mossad to locate any information about Eli Cohen in attempts to illuminate his fate and burial location.
🚨Heartbreaking...From Eli Cohen's letter to his wife Nadia:
To my dear wife Nadia and my family, I am writing you my last words and asking you to always maintain contact between you. I ask you, Nadia, to forgive me and to take care of yourself and the children. Take care of… https://t.co/zPGTQPcsal pic.twitter.com/KOApexwcyq— Raylan Givens (@JewishWarrior13) May 18, 2025
Throughout the years, the Mossad has collaborated with partners in intelligence and security communities in Israel and worldwide, implementing dozens of activities and operations, including in enemy states.
The personal belongings recovered include keys to his Damascus apartment, forged passports and identification documents he utilized, and numerous photographs from his covert period in Syria, including images of Eli Cohen with senior Syrian military and government officials. Moreover, among the extensive records found in notebooks and diaries collected from his home by Syrian intelligence were secret missions he received from the Mossad, including instructions to surveil a target and gather intelligence on Syrian military bases in Quneitra.
The original document containing the verdict and execution order was also discovered among the many documents. In this document, the court permitted the head of the Jewish community in Damascus, Rabbi Nissim Andabo, to accompany Eli Cohen according to Jewish tradition.
Among the numerous files located in the archive was a thick orange file labeled "Nadia Cohen." Examination of this file revealed that Syrian intelligence monitored all activities Mrs. Cohen undertook advocating for her husband's release from Syrian prison, including numerous letters she sent to world leaders and the Syrian president appealing for his freedom.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, "Eli Cohen is a legend. With the perspective of time, he has proven to be the greatest intelligence agent in the history of the state, whose courage and activities contributed to the historic victory in the Six-Day War. Eli Cohen's archive, brought back through special effort, will educate generations and expresses our unwavering commitment to return all our missing, captured, and kidnapped people."
Mossad Director Dadi Barnea said, "Recovering this archive represents a significant achievement with first-rate moral and ethical value, and another step in advancing the investigation to locate the burial place of our man in Damascus. This important mission remains before us, and we are committed to continuing to do everything within our power to fulfill it. We will continue working to locate and return all the missing, fallen, and kidnapped – the living for rehabilitation and the fallen for eternal rest in an Israeli grave."
