For over seventy years, Syria was among Israel’s most resolute foes. From 1948 to 1967, Syria fired mortar shells from the Golan Heights onto Jewish settlements in the Upper Galilee, keeping the area under constant threat.
When Israel captured the Golan in 1967, near the end of the Six-Day War, northern settlers finally found relief. Much credit for this victory goes to Eli Cohen, Israel’s renowned spy.
The Golan is vital beyond military value, providing 30% of Israel’s water. The Dan, Baniyas, and Hatzbani—the Jordan River’s main tributaries—originate here. Melting snow creates heavy runoff, turning the Golan into a verdant landscape and irrigating the Hula and Jordan Valleys. These waters flow into the Sea of Galilee and onward to the Dead Sea.
The Kinneret supplies most of Israel’s water. In the 1960s, Israel built a national water carrier to pipe water from the Kinneret across the country, especially to the arid south.
Israel tried to obtain the cooperation of its Arab neighbors for the plan, but the Arabs would not agree, even when the United States tried to use its diplomatic leverage for the furtherance of the plan. The Arabs would have none of it and decided to “divert the sources of the Jordan River, which originated in Arab-held territory.” In this way, the Arabs hoped to deprive Israel of the waters it would need for its national growth.
In the early 1960s, Syria brought in hydraulic engineers and diversion equipment to implement its water-diversion scheme. This period also saw a continued influx of Palestinian terrorist infiltrators from the Syrian border, together with ongoing Soviet technical assistance to Syria. During this time, Israeli defense planners urgently needed reliable intelligence on the scope of the water diversion project—engineering plans, diagrams, maps, up-to-date assessments of Soviet influence in Damascus, and detailed information on plans to modernize, equip, and retrain Syrian forces. Eli Cohen proved to be the right person for this mission.
Cohen was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on December 26, 1924. “His parents, Syrian Jews from the thriving town of Aleppo, had always instilled in their educationally minded son the traditions of the Jewish people, of Zionism, and of the culture of Syria’s Jewish community, in particular.”
In 1949, Cohen’s parents and three brothers moved to Israel, while Eli remained in Egypt to finish his studies and coordinate Jewish and Zionist activities. Four years later, in 1953, Egyptian-Jewish spies involved in Operation Susannah were caught; some were hanged, and others imprisoned until their release 14 years later, after the 1967 War. Although Cohen was not directly involved, he participated in pro-Israel activity and was arrested and interrogated by Egyptian Intelligence before being released for lack of evidence.
After the failed Operation Susannah in 1954, Cohen left Egypt for Israel in the summer of 1955 to undergo intensive espionage training. He trained at the same facility as the former Susannah operatives. When he returned to Egypt in 1956, he was quickly suspected and put under surveillance. At the start of the Sinai War later that year, Cohen was detained and expelled by Egyptian authorities alongside the remaining Jews from Alexandria. He arrived in Israel on February 8, 1957.
Cohen, then 29, offered his services to the Israeli Intelligence Services but was rebuked twice because of his prior arrest in Egypt. He wasn’t even drafted into regular army service but was “placed in a reserve Israeli Air Force formation as a logistics clerk.” Perhaps he wasn’t allowed into the security service because of his Military Intelligence evaluation some years earlier. “The agency concluded that Cohen had a high IQ, great bravery, a phenomenal memory, and the ability to keep a secret; but the tests also showed that ‘in spite of his modest appearance, he has an exaggerated sense of self-importance,’ and ‘a lot of internal tension.’ Cohen, the results indicated, ‘does not always evaluate danger correctly, and is liable to assume risks beyond those which are necessary.’”
On August 31, 1959, Cohen married Nadia Majald, an Iraqi-born Jew. He worked as an accountant, but due to unstable employment, he soon relied on Nadia’s income as their family grew.
By 1960, Israeli Intelligence reconsidered Cohen—an Arab-born, selfless and fearless man fluent in Arabic, English, and French—against a backdrop of escalating tension with Syria.
One day in 1960, Israeli Intelligence approached him again about working for them. At first, he refused. But within a month, he had lost his job at a Tel Aviv-based accountancy firm. When Intelligence came by a second time, he jumped at it. “His training was extensive and exhaustive. He was taught high-speed evasive driving techniques, Weapons proficiency (especially with a wide variety of small arms), topography, map reading, sabotage, and, most importantly, radio transmissions and cryptography. These skills were instrumental in ensuring the safety and survival of one Kamal Amin Ta’abet: Eli Cohen’s new identity. One of the most difficult tasks for Cohen was to learn the intricate and unmistakable phonetic tune of Syrian Arabic; prior to his intelligence training, his Egyptian accent was undeniable.” His trainer was an Iraqi-born Jew with extensive experience training operatives in Arabic and in Muslim traditions and customs.
The legend created for him was that of Kamal Amin Ta’abet (also called Tabas in some sources), a Beirut native born to Syrian Muslim parents. His father was Amin Ta’abet; his mother, Sa’adia Ibrahim. In his fictional biography, the family moved to Argentina in 1948 and opened a successful textile business.
With this new identity in place, in early 1961, Chaim Herzog, Chief of Military Intelligence and later president of Israel, signed the document authorizing Cohen as a spy. He was driven to the airport. His wife Nadia saw him off. She understood he would work for the Ministry of Defense but didn't know where or in what capacity. She was told he would be completely safe and believed that until his capture in 1965.
Cohen went to Buenos Aires to establish himself as a Syrian emigre. He integrated into the Syrian community, building a reputation as a wealthy, generous businessman fond of nightlife. He quickly built ties with politicians, diplomats, and military officials, especially with Colonel Amin al-Hafaz of the Ba’ath party, and expressed his dream of returning to Syria.
Through lavish entertaining and influential friendships, Cohen received invitations to Damascus and opportunities for business ventures. His apparent wealth attracted both those seeking personal gain and Syrians hoping for new capital in the country.
Nine months later, in late 1961, Cohen briefly returned to Israel to visit Nadia. He spent most of his time in Tel Aviv refining his cover and being briefed on mission requirements for Syria, already surpassing Aman’s expectations.
Cohen arrived in Damascus in February 1962, posing as a businessman from Argentina who had returned to his native land. At the end of 1961, Syria dissolved its union with Egypt, which had lasted a mere three years. The Ba’ath party was rising to power, and Cohen wanted to be there when it took power. He carefully cultivated contacts with the Ba’ath leadership, which included the Syrian military attaché in Argentina, General Amin al-Hafaz. He continued his social life, spending much time in cafes listening to political gossip. He also held parties at his home, which turned into orgies for high-placed Syrian ministers, businessmen, and others, who used Cohen’s apartment “for assignations with various women, including Defense Ministry secretaries, airline hostesses, and Syrian singing stars.” At these parties, such highly-placed officials would “talk freely of their work and army plans. Cohen, who would feign intoxication, remained sober and listened carefully.”
In addition to providing loans to government officials and acting as an avid host, he was asked for advice by government officials, who were often intoxicated by the alcohol he freely provided. Cohen himself was not above the spicier part of a spy’s life either. “The ‘husband hunters’ among the Damascus rich and influential flocked to the handsome Ta’abet, hoping that their almond eyes, Byzantine beauty, and olive skin would secure a future of wealth and power. He became the most sought-after bachelor in the Syrian capital. He did not object, in fact, to the idea of a ladies’ man reputation. He had seventeen lovers in Syria, all dazzling beauties with a fair degree of family power.” Cohen hoped, as did Israeli Intelligence, that these women “would help him escape in time of crisis.”
With time, he was taken even more into the confidence of the highest echelons of power. He became a confidante of George Saif, a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Information. “The complete trust Cohen enjoyed among his unwitting informants is illustrated by the following incident, which might have serious consequences for the Israeli agents.
One day, Cohen was sitting in Saif’s office reading a classified document while the Syrian was on the phone. One of the ministry’s directors entered the room unannounced.
‘How is it that you dare allow a stranger to read a classified document?’ he angrily asked Saif.
Saif calmly replied, ‘There’s nothing to worry about. He’s a trusted friend.’”
When the Ba’ath took power in 1963, Cohen was firmly entrenched in Syrian high society. Meanwhile, every few days, he transmitted important information to his Israeli handlers via a radio transmitter he had hidden in his room.
Periodically, Cohen would return to Israel to speak with his Israeli handlers and visit his wife and small children. Altogether, he returned to Israel three times between 1962 and 1965.
The Syrian project to divert water from the headwaters of the Jordan away from Israel was mentioned already in the above introduction. Cohen was friends with two highly placed Army officers, Colonels Hatoum and Dali, who were fully informed about the scheme. In early 1964, Cohen was able to radio Tel Aviv that the channel was being dug along the entire length of the Syrian Heights to receive the diverted flow of the Baniyas River - one of the Jordan’s major sources - and empty into Jordanian territory.” Cohen carefully spelled out all the project details and passed them to Israeli Intelligence. Due to this information, the Israeli Air Force was able to obliterate the Syrian plans for the diversion scheme by shelling and bombing the bulldozers and other equipment used for the scheme in early 1964.
Cohen’s connections enabled him to be taken to the Golan Heights – a major strategic asset for Syria from 1948-67, from which Syria’s military harassed Israel’s northern settlements. The Golan Heights defenses were top-secret and closed only to the top military staff. “Nevertheless, Kamal Amin Ta’abet succeeded in visiting every position. With senior staff officers acting as guides, Cohen was provided an in-depth intelligence briefing of monumental proportions.” They even photographed Cohen on the Golan Heights, looking over into Israel, alongside the most high-ranking Syrian officers. He remembered and passed on to Israeli Intelligence the “positioning of every Syrian gun, trench, and machine-gun nest in each Golan Heights fortification; tank traps, designed to impede any Israeli attack, were also identified and memorized for future targeting.”
One of the more famous aspects of his spying regarded a trip he took to the Golan Heights. As the Syrian Army officer explained to Cohen the fortifications the Syrian Army had built, Cohen suggested that the Syrians plant trees there to deceive the Israelis into thinking it was unfortified, as well as to provide shade and beauty for the soldiers stationed there. The Syrian officer readily agreed – and Cohen immediately passed the information onto Israel. Based on the eucalyptus trees, Israel knew exactly where the Syrian fortifications were.
Cohen’s friendship with Amin al-Hafez proved very valuable. After Hafez became Prime Minister, Cohen was even considered for the post of Syrian Deputy Minister of Defense.
But changes within the Syrian Government alarmed Cohen. In addition, the commander of Syrian Intelligence, Colonel Ahmed Su’edani, trusted no one and disliked Cohen. Subsequently, Cohen expressed his fear and wish to terminate his assignment in Syria during his last visit to Israel in November 1964. Still, Israeli Intelligence asked him to return to Syria one more time. The information he had been providing them for years was too good to forego.
Cohen returned to Syria, but his behavior changed. He became far less careful in his transmissions to Israel, sometimes calling once or even twice a day – and almost always at the same time, at 8:30 in the morning. The transmissions became longer as well. Some attributed this to a sense of cockiness (despite the fears he had expressed in November 1964), stemming from his ability and ease of movement in the highest echelons of Syrian power. Others have attributed the carelessness to an almost suicidal tendency – perhaps, it was later surmised, he had been in the undercover world too long, but knew he couldn’t get out of it. Because of that, perhaps he was just tired of the whole charade.
 Cohen was publicly hanged in the Marjeh Square Damascus (May 18, 1965} |
The Syrians and their Russian advisers were alarmed by intelligence seeping out of the country. The highly vigilant Russian security experts, equipped with very sensitive technical intelligence-gathering equipment, pinpointed the source of the transmissions in the Syrian capital– and it was Cohen’s home. On January 24, 1965, Syrian intelligence broke into his home in the middle of a transmission. The leading figure in the break-in was the head of Syrian Intelligence, Colonel Ahmed Su’edani – Cohen’s nemesis.
Cohen was caught in the act, and there was nothing he could do. He was tortured, but he wouldn’t give away any incriminating information about Israel. His captors later remarked on his noble bearing and his courage despite the horrific Syrian interrogation methods.
He then underwent a show trial, as the Operation Susannah spies had in Egypt 12 years before. Like them, his verdict was predetermined.
World leaders, wealthy individuals, the Israeli government, the pope, and others all intervened on his behalf. To no avail. He was hanged on May 18, 1965. He wrote a last letter to his wife before he mounted the scaffold to a seething crowd. The execution was broadcast on Syrian television. After his execution, a white parchment filled with anti-Zionist writing was put on his body, and he was left hanging for six hours.
Cohen provided an incredible amount of intelligence data to the Israeli Army over a period of three years. In 1967, the Israelis were able to conquer the Golan Heights in two days – in part due to the intelligence he provided. As Intelligence Chief Meir Amit said, Cohen “succeeded far beyond the capabilities of most other men.”
What is perhaps most amazing about Cohen is that he was genuinely liked – even loved – by so many of the top Syrian leaders. He had an input into and an impact on Syrian national defense and was privy to almost all their secrets. He genuinely fit into life in the Syrian capital, and he was never suspected of being a spy until almost the very end.
It is for these reasons Eli Cohen is known as Israel’s greatest spy. In 2019, Netflix created the series The Spy starring Sacha Baron Cohen to tell his story.
The Israeli government and Cohen’s widow have for many years sought the return of Cohen’s body. The Syrians have consistently refused to do so.
In May 2025, after a historic Mossad operation coordinated with a foreign intelligence service, Israel announced it had recovered the official Syrian archive on Cohen, containing about 2,500 original documents, photographs, recordings, and personal items never before seen. The material, gathered by Syrian intelligence after Cohen’s 1965 capture and execution, includes his original handwritten will, covert mission records, and personal effects like apartment keys and forged passports. The archive also documents his widow, Nadia's, efforts to secure his release. Some items were presented to her near the 60th anniversary of his execution, and others were retained by the Mossad for further examination.
In February 2026, new revelations based on Syrian archival materials and research by Prof. Danny Orbach indicated that Israeli spy Cohen was suspected by Syrian authorities as early as a year after he arrived in Damascus but was not immediately arrested because the regime was primarily focused on internal power struggles and potential coups rather than foreign espionage. Orbach’s findings also reveal that Cohen operated in a Syria crowded with foreign intelligence services and German advisers, including former Nazis involved in arms trading and intelligence networks, and that one of Cohen’s secondary missions was to track Nazi war criminals, particularly Alois Brunner. Cohen reportedly identified Franz Rademacher and transmitted information about him to Israel. However, his cover story was weak and unlikely to withstand serious security vetting.
The fall of the Assad regime raised hopes that Cohen’s body would be returned to Israel, but the new government has yet to do so.
In 2022, the Eli Cohen Museum opened in Herzliya telling the story of Cohen’s life.
Source: The Pedagogic Center, The Department for Jewish Zionist Education, The Jewish Agency for Israel, (c) 1992-2007.
This material may not be republished without the permission of the copyright owner.
Fiyaz Mughal, “Eli Cohen’s body must be returned to Israel,” The JC, (Undated).
Daniel Sonnenfeld, “55 years after execution in Syria, Israeli spy Eli Cohen makes headlines,” Jerusalem Post, February 27, 2021).
“PM Office-Mossad: 60 Years after his Execution: Approximately 2,500 Documents, Photographs and Personal Items of Mossad Agent Eli Cohen are brought to Israel in a Covert “Mossad Operation,” Israel Prime Minister’s Office.
Mor Shpaier, “New Revelations on Eli Cohen: Early Suspicion and Nazi Networks in 1960s Syria,” Israel Hayom, (February 4, 2026). [Hebrew]
Chani Kaplan, “The rooms where the true Eli Cohen is revealed,” Jerusalem Report, (March 23, 2026).