Tel Aviv: In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the public execution of renowned Israeli spy Eli Cohen in Damascus, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced that documents and personal belongings of Cohen had been returned to Israel from Syria.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday, the official Syrian archive on Eli Cohen, which contained thousands of findings that had been kept for decades by the Syrian security forces in a highly compartmentalized manner, was brought to Israel in a clandestine and intricate Mossad operation in collaboration with an allied foreign intelligence service.

In a covert and complex Mossad operation, in cooperation with an allied foreign intelligence service, the official Syrian archive on Eli Cohen with thousands of findings that were held for decades by the Syrian security forces have been brought to Israelhttps://t.co/ioQO9peuS3 pic.twitter.com/F8mG3QNlY8

— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) May 18, 2025

According to the PMO, the unique archive contains some 2,500 original papers, photos, and personal belongings, the majority of which have never been made public before.

Near the poignant and significant 60th anniversary of his execution on May 18, 1965, in a major Damascus plaza, the material was transported to Israel.

Cohen, who was born into a Jewish family in Egypt, joined the Mossad in the early 1960s and used the identity Kamel Amin Thaabet to infiltrate Syria’s highest political levels, according to a Times of Israel story. Israel’s incredible victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, especially the conquest of the Golan Heights, was attributed in large part to the information he gathered over the course of four years.

According to the Times of Israel article, Cohen was tried and killed by the Syrian government on May 18, 1965, for espionage. Despite several attempts over the years by the Mossad and succeeding Israeli administrations, his corpse has never been found.

Nadia, the widow of Eli Cohen, was shown a number of authentic papers and personal belongings that were found in Syria at a meeting between Mossad Director David Barnea and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

According to the PMO, they included Eli Cohen’s actual will, which was prepared only hours before he was executed and of which only a copy had previously been publicly shown.

Notably, the material was gathered by Syrian intelligence following his capture in January 1965 and includes personal items taken from his home after his capture, letters written by Eli Cohen himself to his family in Israel, recordings and documentation from the files on his investigation and those with whom he had interacted, and photos of his activities during his operational mission in Syria.

“Among his personal effects were found the keys to his apartment in Damascus, passports and false documentation he had used, and many photographs from the period of his covert activity in Syria, including documentation of Eli Cohen with senior Syrian government and military officials. Among the many records that were found in the registries and diaries that were collected from his home by Syrian intelligence were also found – inter alia – the missions he had received from the Mossad and which were to be carried out covertly, including a request to surveil a target and a mission to gather intelligence on Syrian military bases in Quneitra,” according to the PMO.

Importantly, among the several papers retrieved were the initial sentence and the decision to execute Cohen.

“In this document, the court determined that the head of the Jewish community in Damascus, Rabbi Nissim Indibo, of blessed memory, was to be allowed to minister to Eli Cohen according to Jewish tradition,” according to the PMO.

A file named ‘Nadia Cohen’ was also found, according to the PMO, and it showed that the Syrian intelligence service examined all of Mrs. Cohen’s attempts to get her husband out of Syrian prison, including the numerous letters she wrote to the Syrian president and world leaders urging his release.

Eli Cohen was referred to by Prime Minister Netanyahu as the “greatest intelligence agent in the annals of the state” and a legend.

“The Eli Cohen archive will educate generations and is a testament of Israel to bring back home all of our missing, captives, and hostages,” Prime Minister Netanyahu stated, citing his heroism as a factor in Israel’s triumph in the Six-Day War.

The return of the records, according to Mossad’s Director Barnea, is a step in the right direction for the inquiry into where he was buried in Damascus. “We are dedicated to continuing and doing all in our power to fulfill this significant goal that lies ahead of us. He said, “We will keep working to find and bring back all of our missing, fallen, and hostages—the living for rehabilitation and the dead for eternal rest following a proper Jewish burial.”

Eli Cohen was a key player in the Six-Day War and an operative of the Israeli intelligence organization Mossad.

According to the Times of Israel, Cohen, who was born into a Jewish family in Egypt, joined the Mossad in the early 1960s and used the identity Kamel Amin Thaabet to penetrate Syria’s highest governmental levels.

According to the Times of Israel, Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, especially the conquest of the Golan Heights, was greatly aided by the information he gathered during a four-year period.

On May 18, 1965, the Syrian government tried him for espionage and put him to death. The search for his mortal remains has been in progress.