PAK MEDIA, DAMASCUS – In the early 1960s, there was no name more revered in Damascus elite circles than Kamel Amin Thaabet. He is the epitome of perfection: a textile tycoon who is wealthy, broad-minded, and has unshakable nationalism.
His reputation is so good that he is no longer considered just a successful businessman, but a visionary statesman whose ideas are often adopted in Syria’s economic and military strategy.
However, beneath that cloak of splendor, Kamel harbors the most terrifying secret in modern intelligence history. The world knows him as Kamel Amin Thaabet, but in the dark rooms of Tel Aviv, he is Eli Cohen, a top secret agent belonging to Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service.
Turning Point at the Presidential Palace: The Perfect Trap Called Power
The peak of Eli Cohen’s career and the beginning of the end of Eli Cohen’s adventure occurred one day in 1964. The President of Syria, General Amin el-Hafiz, who seized power through a military coup on March 8 1963, summoned Kamel to the Damascus Presidential Palace.
Inside the room, the atmosphere was formal and secretive, attended by a row of top generals and cabinet ministers.
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President El-Hafiz is looking for a rare figure: someone who controls the global economic map, has an international network, and most importantly, is infinitely loyal to fund and strengthen the country’s defense sector. In front of the secret forum, the President immediately shot Kamel with a shocking offer.
“Are you willing to accept this job?” asked El-Hafiz directly, as immortalized in the book Our Man in Damascus: Elie Cohn by Eli Ben-Hanan (1971).
Kamel was stunned. The position offered is no joke: Deputy Minister of Defense for Syria. A position that would give him the keys to the nation’s entire military secret vault.
“Isn’t that a hasty decision?” Kamel replied, trying to test the waters calmly.
However, El-Hafiz, who was already attracted, interrupted hesitantly, “No. I have the authority to make the final decision. You can work straight away after the inauguration.”
During the day, military meeting, at night, send Morse code
For the Syrian public, this momentum is the golden destiny of a businessman who rises to become a state architect. However, inside Kamel’s chest, his heart was beating fast with anxiety.
Since being recruited by the Mossad in 1916 and infiltrated into Syria under a false identity, Cohen has managed to penetrate the heart of Israel’s biggest enemy. He sat next to the President, attended secret war meetings, and even took part in formulating military strategy on the Golan Heights.
Ironically, every time an important meeting was over, Kamel would lock himself in his apartment at night. In the silence of the Damascus night, his fingers deftly tapped the transmission device, sending the entire Syrian military strategy to Tel Aviv via Morse code. This information leak has caused the Syrian military to repeatedly fail and become confused on the battlefield against Israel.
In fact, when the internal Syrian military began to smell betrayal and suspected infiltrators, Kamel skillfully stepped forward as a figure who calmed the situation. A very neat scenario, until he was offered the position of Deputy Minister of Defense. After clandestine consultations, Mossad headquarters finally gave the green light to accept the extreme post for greater information.
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Knocking on the Door in the Middle of the Night and the President’s Rampage
The long awaited inauguration was only a few days away, but fate turned around. On the night of evil, January 24, 1965, when Cohen was focused on transmitting classified information radiation to Tel Aviv, his apartment door was forced open by a Syrian counter-intelligence team using a radio frequency tracking device made by the Soviet Union.
Cohen gasped. He tried to end his life by swallowing a cyanide capsule, but the Syrian military moved faster. He was caught red-handed with transmission evidence that was still actively transmitting signals. Kamel Amin Thaabet’s mask collapsed that same night.
The next morning, the Damascus Presidential Palace shook. President Amin el-Hafiz reportedly went into a violent rage. Deep trust turned into unbearable humiliation. The President realized that his country’s continuous military defeats stemmed from the man he almost made Deputy Minister of Defense.
El-Hafiz’s reputation on the Arab world stage was shattered because of this big mistake. As depicted in the book Sell Like A Spy (2024), panic grips Damascus; The president ordered a mass purge, resulting in more than 500 people who had contact with Kamel being immediately thrown into detention.
Gallows in Al-Marjeh Square
Even though Israel and several European countries carried out high-level diplomatic lobbying and offered fantastic ransoms to have the death sentences overturned, Syria did not budge. For them, Eli Cohen is a symbol of national injury and humiliation that must be paid with their lives.
After months of interrogation and severe torture in prison, at dawn on May 18 1965, Eli Cohen was led to Al-Marjeh Square, Damascus. In front of thousands of cheering Syrian public eyes, the “Super Spion” was executed on the gallows.
His body was deliberately never returned to Israel and is buried in a secret location to this day. The tragedy of Eli Cohen’s infiltration not only ended the life of the legendary agent, but also became a short fuse that extended the burning grudge between Syria and Israel that has not died down for generations.***
