MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia has invited all permanent members of the U.N. Security Council as well as Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to attend a forthcoming peace congress on Syria, the RIA news agency reported on Tuesday.

Russia, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is hosting what it has called a Syrian congress of national dialogue in the Russian city of Sochi on Jan. 29-30.