Israel recovers Mossad spy Eli Cohen's 2,500-item Syrian file 60 years after he was hanged (WATCH)

Israel retrieves 2,500-item Syrian archive on legendary Mossad spy Eli Cohen in covert operation, decades after his execution in Damascus.

In a dramatic revelation, Israel announced on Sunday that it had successfully recovered the official Syrian archive on legendary spy Eli Cohen — a trove comprising 2,500 documents, photographs, and personal items tied to the Mossad agent who was executed in Damascus in 1965.

"In a complex covert operation by the Mossad, in cooperation with a strategic partner service, the official Syrian archive on Eli Cohen was brought to Israel," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement, referring to the country's external intelligence agency.

"The trove contains thousands of items that had been kept under tight security by Syrian intelligence for decades," the statement added.

Cohen, renowned for his deep infiltration into the upper echelons of Syrian political and military circles during a four-year operation, was discovered and arrested by Syrian intelligence. He was publicly hanged on May 18, 1965, in Damascus, and his burial site has remained unknown ever since.

Contents of the Archive: Will, Interrogations, and Forged Passports

The cache retrieved includes Cohen’s handwritten will, composed just hours before his execution, audio recordings and interrogation files involving him and his sources, letters to his family in Israel, and photographs from his mission in Syria. Personal effects seized from his home after his arrest — including forged passports, diaries, notebooks detailing Mossad operations, and images of him alongside senior Syrian officials — were also recovered.

A particularly poignant find was a Syrian intelligence file labeled "Nadia Cohen," documenting surveillance on Cohen’s wife and her efforts to campaign for his release.

Netanyahu Hails Eli Cohen as Israel’s Greatest Intelligence Agent

Netanyahu praised Cohen’s legacy in the statement, calling him “a legend” and “the greatest intelligence agent in the state's history.”

“Eli Cohen is a legend. With the test of time he emerges as the greatest intelligence agent in the state's history,” Netanyahu said.

The prime minister also framed the operation as part of Israel’s broader commitment to recovering its missing and captive citizens.

"Retrieving the archive reflected Israel's unwavering commitment to bringing back all our missing, prisoners, and hostages," he added — a remark interpreted as referencing both the ongoing captivity of 58 individuals held by Hamas in Gaza and a recent Mossad operation that brought back the remains of an Israeli soldier missing for 43 years.

Mossad Director David Barnea hailed the archive's recovery as a “significant achievement” and emphasized that the agency remained determined to locate Cohen’s final resting place.

“Another step toward locating our man in Damascus' burial place,” Barnea said.

According to the statement, Mossad's pursuit of information on Cohen had spanned decades, involving extensive intelligence, operational, and technological efforts — including missions "inside enemy states."

In a special meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu and Barnea presented the recovered items to Cohen’s widow, Nadia Cohen.

Cohen's story continues to resonate with Israelis and audiences worldwide, having been dramatized in the Netflix series The Spy, where he was portrayed by actor Sacha Baron Cohen.