Families of Israelis missing in Syria hopeful after Assad’s downfall

“I have not forgotten him for a moment and it has been almost 60 years since he was hanged,” says Eli Cohen’s widow, Nadia.

By World Israel News Staff

The families of four Israeli citizens kidnapped or executed by Syria are hopeful that the end of the Assad regime will lead to new information regarding their loved ones’ whereabouts.

Mossad spy Eli Cohen was executed in Syria in 1967, and his body was buried in a secret location. His widow, Nadia, has fought tirelessly for decades in attempt to find his grave and rebury him in Israel.

“I don’t want them to leave Eli’s body in Syria,” she told Hebrew-language outlet Ynet.

“The upheavals that are taking place there can be for our benefit. I wish both the Syrian people and us peace, and I want [to use] this opportunity to return Eli’s body to Israel so that he can rest in peace. I will rest too after all these years,” she added.

“I have not forgotten him for a moment and it has been almost 60 years since he was hanged.”

Following the Battle of Sultan Yacoub in 1982, five Israeli soldiers were declared missing in action. The battle took place in southern Lebanon, near the border with Syria, and saw fierce fighting between the IDF and the Syrian army.

Out of those five soldiers, two were freed in a prisoner exchange, while another’s remains were repatriated to Israel in 2019.

IF soldiers Yehuda Katz and Zvika Feldman remain missing. Their families have noted that people held in secret Syrian prisons for decades have been released by rebel groups in recent days, and have raised the possibility that Katz and Feldman have been incarcerated for more than 40 years.

“What is happening now in Syria is a rare window of opportunity that we very much hope will bring Zvika home,” Feldman’s sister Anat told Ynet.

“We have no idea what happened to him, but the regime of Assad and his father was very cruel, and [Zvika] may have been held in some dungeon somewhere.”

Another Israeli soldier, Guy Hever, disappeared in the Golan Heights in 1997. His family immediately suspected he was captured by Syrian forces, but no evidence of his fate has ever been found.