The Saudi channel Al-Hadath reported Sunday that the remains of Israeli spy Eli Cohen, who operated in Syria during the 1960s, are expected to soon be transferred to Israel.

The report was not verified and didn’t offer any further details.

Nadia Cohen, the spy’s widow, told Ynet: “The Mossad isn’t familiar with this story, and it isn’t known to them that he’s being returned.”

She described an “internal storm. I have hope that what’s happening in Syria will allow for more flexibility. I am full of optimism all the time, and it’s on my mind and my heart all the time. I haven’t lost hope.”

Cohen was captured and executed by the Syrian regime in 1965 and buried in Damascus. Over the years, Bashar al-Assad’s regime rejected Jerusalem’s requests to receive his body or exchange it for Syrian prisoners held in Israel.

Sunday’s report came some five months after a

© The Times of Israel