Mar. 9, 2021 A search for the remains of Israeli spy Eli Cohen is taking place in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told i24NEWS on Tuesday. Cohen, Israel's spy in Syria, was caught, tried, convicted and executed in Damascus on May 18, 1965. The prime minister confirmed a report in February by London-based Arabic-language news website Rai al-Youm that Russia is working to locate the remains of Cohen in order to repatriate them to Israel. Netanyahu told the news channel that the report was true, but that he could divulge no further information. He also mentioned the 2019 repatriation of the remains of Staff Sgt. Zechariah Baumel, killed 37 years earlier in the First Lebanon War. Netanyahu attributed this release to his “close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin,” who he said “sent his forces, under the recommendations of intelligence information we gave them ... and we are continuing these efforts for Eli Cohen and anyone else.”