Eli Cohen - Syria

Syria

Cohen moved to Damascus in 1962 and eventually gained the confidence of many Syrian military and government officials under the alias Kamel Amin Thaabet كامل أمين ثابت. Cohen sent intelligence to Israel by radio, secret letters, and occasionally in person. His most famous achievement was when he toured the Golan Heights, and collected intelligence on the Syrian fortifications there. Feigning sympathy for the soldiers exposed to the sun, Cohen had trees planted at every position. The trees were used as targeting markers by the Israeli military during the Six-Day War. Cohen made repeated visits to the southern frontier zone, providing photographs and sketches of Syrian positions.

Cohen made many friends with high-ranking Syrian generals while undercover. Some sources even say that he had established a good friendship with Amin al-Hafiz. Hafiz said that this was not true in a 2001 interview in which he said that such a friendship would be impossible given the fact that he had been in Moscow until 1962. After Hafiz became Prime Minister, Cohen may even have been considered for the position of Syrian Deputy Minister of Defense, though Hafiz's secretary has denied that this was the case.

Cohen learned of an important secret plan by Syria to create three successive lines of bunkers and mortars; the Israel Defense Forces would otherwise have expected to encounter only a single line.

In 1964, Cohen secretly returned to his home in Bat Yam for the birth of his third child. He assured his wife that there would only be one more trip before he returned permanently.