TRIPOLI, Lebanon: The popular uprising in neighboring Syria has had one of its strongest echoes in Lebanon’s “northern capital,” where weekly Friday demonstrations of support for the Syrian people make Tripoli among the Lebanese cities most affected by the unrest next door. It’s not surprising that as a result, a “Tripoli Coordination Committee” in support of the uprising has sprung up in the city, run by Syrians and Lebanese.

In its early months, the group comprised a number of young Lebanese who were following the developments of the Syrian uprising on Facebook, via a number of different pages. This evolved into their actively passing along the news and videos of the revolt in different parts of Syria.

Later on, a number of Syrian students at universities in Tripoli began to participate in activities in solidarity with the uprising, where they encountered the city’s natives who were supportive of the “revolution.”

The two groups merged into a single Tripoli Coordination Committee, which deals directly with the Syrian Revolution General Commission, one of the main networks of activists and protestors inside Syria.

The Tripoli-based group seeks to organize peaceful actions of solidarity with the uprising, while staying out of local sectarian and political divisions.

The group’s street protests feature only the pre-Baath flag of the uprising; political party flags are frowned upon.

Individual members of the TCC might take part in the regular Friday protests, organized by Islamist groups wielding their own flags – but the group is anxious to ensure that any demonstration held in its name is free of political party flags, and has been most active in organizing peaceful marches of like-minded university students.

In recent weeks, however, a more pressing need has arisen, and the TCC is active in responding to this need.

The efforts by the Lebanese government’s Higher Relief Committee and the United Nations Higher Commission for Refugees have been most visible in remote rural areas of North Lebanon such as Wadi Khaled, where displaced Syrians have gathered.

For those who have been wounded in the conflict, the city of Tripoli offers the hospitals and other facilities that are needed.

Hajj Mohammad, a Lebanese member of the TCC, told The Daily Star that “in addition to our solidarity actions, we work to secure health care in Tripoli for the Syrians who are wounded, especially for the post-operation phase, when there is an urgent need for care and recovery.”

Mohammad said the group had concluded an agreement with a local hospital to receive the patients and follow up their treatment when needed – surgeries are taken care of by official bodies, but when a patient is released, he requires further assistance.

The funding comes from the Syrian Relief Committee, an opposition gathering that comprises a number of Syrian civil associations and diaspora groups that collect funds to provide aid for the wounded.

“Of course, we don’t pay for surgical operations; it’s the [Lebanese] Higher Relief Committee that has agreed with hospitals to secure operations for our Syrian brethren, paid for by the Ministry of Health,” Mohammad said.

Hasan Tadmuri is one of those who has benefited from the TCC’s activism.

“I was hit in my right leg during a demonstration in the governorate of Homs; my comrades took me to a nearby farm, where an emergency treatment center had been set up, but only offering first aid,” he recalled.

“But my injury required surgery, and we were also in danger of being pursued by the Assad Brigades, which attacked the place when they learned there were injured people there.”

After the security personnel and Shabbiha [pro-regime gangs] departed the orchard where Tadmuri was hiding, he was then rescued by volunteers, who had secured a motorcycle.

This was followed by transport by car, and finally a horse, which he used to cross into Lebanon in the middle of the night.

“I finally passed out and the next thing I knew I was in a Red Cross ambulance,” the activist continued.

Two days after he was shot, Tadmuri was taken to Tripoli Government Hospital and operated on, and is now receiving follow-up treatment at another facility, thanks to the agreement with the TCC, which over the year has moved from uploading videos to coming face-to-face with the victims of the unrest in Syria.