Syrian rebels to return body of Israeli spy, report reveals

Eli Cohen, the Israeli spy who penetrated the Syrian regime during the early 1960s, was captured and killed in 1965.

Reproduction of an Israeli stamp being issued to honour the Mossad intelligence agency spy Eli Cohen who was hanged in Damascus (photo credit: REUTERS)
Reproduction of an Israeli stamp being issued to honour the Mossad intelligence agency spy Eli Cohen who was hanged in Damascus
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Syrian Opposition forces will return the body of Eli Cohen, the Israeli spy who penetrated the Syrian regime during the early 1960s, the Lebanese news network LBC has reported.
The report has yet to be confirmed.
A film clip documenting the aftermath of his hanging became available Monday.
According to Reshet Bet radio’s website, the clip was released by Syrian rebel groups. The footage shows Cohen’s body hanging from the scaffold in a Damascus Square and then being taken down. The clip is credited to “The Institute of the House of Palestinian memory.”
The disquieting camera shots are accompanied by the sound of Syrian poet Nizar Qabani reading one of his poems about love, wine and Damascus. In the poem Qabani compares blood to wine.
In January 1965, Syrian intelligence announced it had caught Cohen. He was hanged four months later.
The location of a grave has remained unknown.