Eli Cohen’s daughter calls on Trump and Putin to pressure Assad to reveal his burial site

In a new development in the case of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who was executed in Syria in 1965, his daughter, Sophie Ben-Dor, made a direct appeal to US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, urging them to intervene and reveal her father’s burial site.

She believes that former Syrian President Bashar al Assad is the only one who possesses this information.

In statements, Sophie said, “Assad, who currently resides in Russia, enjoys freedom despite causing the suffering of entire peoples,” calling for pressure to be put on him to hand over her father’s remains.

She indicated that she had recently obtained a set of family documents, which she described as an “emotional treasure,” reflecting the strong bond that bound her father to his family.

However, she stressed that her ultimate goal is to return Cohen’s remains to Israel so that his family can visit him.

Eli Cohen’s daughter emphasized that Putin, who granted Assad political asylum, is able to influence him, while Trump, in her opinion, can pressure Putin to achieve this goal, noting that she sent an official letter to Trump in this regard.

In the same context, Israel recently announced the recovery of a collection of documents, photos, and personal belongings belonging to Eli Cohen, through an intelligence operation described as secret and complex, carried out by the Mossad in cooperation with an undisclosed foreign agency.

However, according to Reutersو the administration of Syrian transitional President Ahmed al Sharaa was the one that handed over the Israeli spy’s archive through an intermediary, as a gesture of goodwill to the US president and as a step toward easing tensions between Syria and Israel.

Informed sources told Reuters that this move came with the approval of the Syrian leadership, as part of a political initiative aimed at easing tensions with the US administration at the time, by demonstrating goodwill toward former US President Donald Trump.

Reuters quoted three sources—a Syrian security official, an advisor to al Sharaa, and a person familiar with secret talks—as saying that the handover of the Israeli archive was indeed done as a gesture to open an indirect channel of communication and build trust with the US administration at the time.