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Israeli Reports: Cohen’s Remains are in Cave Near Syria’s Qardaha

Israeli spy Eli Cohen. (AFP)
Israeli spy Eli Cohen. (AFP)
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Israeli Reports: Cohen’s Remains are in Cave Near Syria’s Qardaha

Israeli spy Eli Cohen. (AFP)
Israeli spy Eli Cohen. (AFP)

The remains of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who was executed in Damascus in 1965, were buried in a mountain cave near the city of Qardaha in the Latakia province, the birthplace of head of the Syrian regime Bashar Assad, reported the Israeli Maariv daily Friday.

The newspaper said the information was delivered by an Arab source, who spoke with a high-ranking official from the Assad regime.

“In 1977, late former President Hafez Assad ordered the transfer of the body of Cohen from where it was buried to another place, after the Israeli intelligence Mossad agency carried out a serious attempt to search for his remains in several graves in the Syrian territories,” the Syrian official told the Arab source, according to Maariv.

The official said that in 1977, a Mossad team had reached Damascus and started digging up the graves, but failed to discover the whereabouts of Cohen’s body.

“The Israeli army sparked a battle with the Syrian military on the Jordanian-Syrian border to cover up the Mossad’s activities in Damascus,” the official revealed.

He added that at that time, Hafez Assad ordered that Cohen’s body be transferred to a “safe area”, tasking the secret mission to three of his loyal soldiers, who had served in the Presidential Guards.

“Two of the soldiers passed away, while the third is now in his eighties,” the source said.

He explained that in addition to the three soldiers, two persons knew about the mission: Former Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlass and Syrian General Mohammed Suleiman, a key aide to Assad and a liaison officer with the Lebanese Hezbollah party. Suleiman was assassinated in Syria’s Tartus in 2008.

Earlier this week, the Israeli Jerusalem Post daily claimed that Cohen’s remains were being transferred from Syria to Israel.

Later, several Israeli media reports said a Russian delegation left Syria with a coffin containing the remains.

The Russian Foreign Ministry put out a statement Wednesday "resolutely refuting" the claim, which it described as a "provocation." It urged the Israeli media to show a more "accurate, professional and honest approach to coverage of such sensitive issues."

Cohen infiltrated the top echelons of Syria's leadership in the early 1960s and obtained top-secret intelligence before he was caught and publicly executed in 1965.

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Debris from Iranian Drones, Missiles Hits Homes in Southern Syria

A house in rural Daraa is damaged by debris from Israeli-Iranian crossfire. (SANA)
A house in rural Daraa is damaged by debris from Israeli-Iranian crossfire. (SANA)
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Debris from Iranian Drones, Missiles Hits Homes in Southern Syria

A house in rural Daraa is damaged by debris from Israeli-Iranian crossfire. (SANA)
A house in rural Daraa is damaged by debris from Israeli-Iranian crossfire. (SANA)

Israeli air defenses shot down several Iranian drones over Syria’s southern Daraa province on Monday, causing material damage to residential areas, but no reported casualties, according to Syrian state and local media.

One drone crashed into a house in the northern neighborhood of the city of Nawa in western Daraa after being intercepted by Israeli air defenses, partially damaging the building but causing no injuries, Syria’s state-run Alikhbaria TV reported.

Local outlet Daraa 24 said another Iranian drone went down near a house in the village of Khirbet Qais, also in western Daraa. There were no injuries or material losses, it said.

Separately, the “Horan Free” gathering reported that an Iranian missile intercepted by Israeli forces before dawn landed near the town of Jasim in northern Daraa, igniting a fire in a tent housing a Bedouin family. The blaze was quickly contained and no injuries were reported.

In a third incident, an Israeli warplane shot down a drone over the city of al-Sanamayn in northern Daraa, triggering a fire in the basement of a house near the “National Hospital” and destroying a motorcycle. No casualties were reported.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Sheikh Ahmed Arab, an imam and preacher at a mosque in the city of Nawa, said: “Israeli warplanes and Iranian drones and missiles violate Syrian airspace on a near-daily basis since the outbreak of hostilities between the two countries.”

“Their aerial confrontations unfold above our heads, and debris from aircraft and missiles often falls in towns and villages like Nawa, al-Sanamayn, al-Rafid, and Nafaah, causing material damage,” he added.

“It’s deeply troubling and worrisome for us as civilians, but we are powerless to stop it.”

Arab stressed the need for international protection of Syrian airspace, calling for measures to prevent both Israeli and Iranian aircraft and missiles from operating over the country.

“There must be international oversight to stop Israeli warplanes and Iranian drones and missiles from violating Syrian airspace,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Moreover, residents in the Yarmouk Basin region of western Daraa, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, had received warning messages on their mobile phones, believed to be from Israel, he revealed.

The local Horan Free gathering website, which covers developments in southern Syria, posted a screenshot of one such message, titled “Emergency Alert – Maximum Level.”

“In the next few minutes, alerts are expected in your area,” the message read. “You must move to the nearest protected location. If an alert is received, enter a shelter and remain there until further notice.”

Mufleh Salem al-Suleiman, a resident of the town of Koayiah in the Yarmouk Basin region of western Daraa, voiced strong frustration over what he described as Syria’s skies becoming a “battleground” for Iran and Israel.

“The Syrian sky is violated by Israeli warplanes and Iranian aircraft and missiles. Debris from these clashes is falling on our homes and destroying them,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

“People, especially children, are terrified. Many are staying indoors or even sheltering in basements out of fear.”

“Israel and Iran are fighting in the skies of other nations, above the heads of their people and at their expense,” he added, calling for international protection of Syrian airspace.