BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri labeled as “ridiculous” Syrian President Bashar Assad’s Tuesday speech, while Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said the leader was out of touch with reality.

A fan on the popular social media website, Twitter, asked Hariri if he was listening to Assad’s speech, prompting Hariri to respond in the affirmative, adding: “it's actually ridiculous” and saying Assad "is in self-denial.”

Hariri, the head of the Future Movement opposition party, said that Assad’s speech resembled his previous speeches since unrest gripped Syria in mid-March.

“[It’s the] same thing, it’s all a conspiracy,” Hariri tweeted.

During his speech Tuesday, Assad said his country was facing a foreign conspiracy and vowed to crush terrorists in a bid to restore order.

He also slammed some members of the Arab League as serving foreign interests and defended his conduct in dealing with unrest in his country, now in its tenth month.

The Arab League has been working with Assad's government in a bid to end crisis in the country, however, its attempts and the plan designed to stop violence on the streets have not led to tangible results.

Geagea said Assad is out of touch with reality and urged him to carry out a national referendum that would show his true levels of popularity.

“Assad addressed all matters except the reality of the crisis ... Assad drew a reality that has nothing to do with the one [we're] living in,” Geagea, a staunch critic of Assad, told reporters in his Meerab office.

He said the national referendum on whether people support Assad would save the president “the trouble of an hour and 15 minute speech.”

“My call for [Assad] to have a referendum under the supervision of the United Nations is because I do not believe what this regime is saying after 35 years of experience, particularly what we have [recently] witnessed,” Geagea added.