BEIRUT, Lebanon — IN the early years of Syria’s revolt, he filmed protests in the streets of his rebel-held neighborhood, in the historic center of the city of Homs. He chanted for dignity and freedom with a green, white and black banner, the old version of the national flag.

When government forces besieged the old city, he grew vegetables on the roof of his family’s house; he cried over leaving tomatoes on the vine as he departed reluctantly under a cease-fire. Later, homesick, he quoted his sister’s poetry: “There is nothing warmer than your neighborhood, your country, your house.”

Even during the darkest times, he joked and even flirted with reporters around the world, briefing them on battles, lacing his text messages to them with smiley faces and flowers. “Soon,” he teased once during an online chat, “we’ll have our engagement.”

The man who called himself Abu Bilal al-Homsi was, in short, a classic hometown rebel. A media activist, he was well known to foreign journalists, an advocate for the rebels fighting against the government but also an important source of information. He used a nom de guerre to protect his relatives from reprisals, which could still come against his family if his real name were revealed now.