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NEWS
Former Syrian Official Says Neighborhood Built Over Eli
Cohen's Grave
By A. Ben Aharon
A ranking Syrian official claims that streets and parks were
built on the gravesite of Eli Cohen Hy"d, the famous
Israeli spy who operated in Damascus until he was captured
and hanged.
Mounzer Mously, who once worked as bureau chief under former
President Amin al-Assad, told the Al-Arabia website that
Cohen's burial site is now covered with roads and parks and
"nobody is able to reach him."
In the interview, Mously revealed new information about Eli
Cohen, although its reliability is in doubt. He said he spoke
with Cohen personally for 15 minutes at the police station
following his capture. According to Mously, Cohen said
"spying was not his profession" and he had not worked for any
authority in Israel or elsewhere. He claimed to be "an
Egyptian Jew born in Alexandria who was recruited to work in
Syria for four years." If Mously's account proves accurate it
appears Cohen made a final attempt to convince a senior
Syrian official that he was not a spy.
Cohen is considered one of Israel's most important spies and
one of the best and most important in the entire world. He
was recruited by Israeli intelligence services at the age of
36, sent to Argentina to build a new identity as an Arab
merchant and from there, after two years of forging ties with
Arab figures, he relocated to Syria. He acquired a reputation
as a wealthy businessman and a big spender, and as a Syrian
national made many friends among upper-echelon government and
army officials, allowing him to transfer vital information to
Israel. After three years he was exposed using a
sophisticated Russian tracking device, which located the site
of his wireless transmissions to Israel. The Syrians tortured
him and executed him by hanging.
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