International Intelligence Service

Syria is a country suspected of harboring terrorist training camps and secret bank accounts for Saddam worth billions. What is known of this we may never know. However, based on Israel’s dealing with Syria leading up to the battle for the Golan Heights it is likely they know a great deal. The Golan Heights fell in days as a result of years of preparation.

Years before the 1967 war members of the Israeli Secret Forces, the Musad, visited a young man named Eli Cohn working in a store in Nazareth. Living in an Arab city he was bilingual. They offered his an opportunity to work for them. He refused saying he liked his job. They left their card and told him if he ever changed his mind to contact them. The next day he was fired and soon called the Musad for an interview. He was set up as a Syrian citizen and sent to Argentina where he lived and worked for some time. Later he traveled to Syria with credentials as a highly successful Arab business man from Argentine.

In a short time he worked his way into the Syrian government and became the number two man in power. Eventually he asked for and was given a tour of the Syrian defenses of the Golan Heights. He complimented the fortifications but noted their gun placements were so well hidden that if communications were disrupted during a conflict there would be no way for friendly forces to know where they were. He suggested they plant eucalyptus trees by each bunker in order for their own welfare.

All the time he was communicating with the Musad in Israel. When the war broke out the Israeli army knew to strike the stands of eucalyptus and the Syrian defenses failed badly. Most of the defense force retreated to the summit of the Golan preparing to make a stand.

Syria knew they had to draw Russia into the dispute. Their U.N. Ambassador was on the floor of the U.N. making an appeal when handed a note. He read it aloud. It was a report that the defenses had failed and the Syrian army had retreated to Damascus. His hope was this would incite the Russians to intervene. The Syrian forces still on the Golan hearing this on their radios concluded that if they were the only ones not to have gotten orders to retreat they should withdraw. They did immediately.

The note given the ambassador was a bogus report sent by Israel’s man in Damascus. In reality there had been no withdrawal from the Golan until that moment. Thus, the battle for the Golan Heights was an easy victory for Israel.

The Syrians by this time realized they had a security leak. They walked in on Israel’s mole while he was transmitting to Israel. His arrest caused the U.S. to appeal to Syria for his release. That confirmed for the Syrians they had a big fish. Cohn was immediately condemned to death. Persons were bussed into the city square of Damascus to witness his public hanging. This ended a classic case of intriguing infiltration.

There is no way of knowing how many such agents are presently at work in Syria.