A handout picture released by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) 22 July 2007, shows an arial view of excavation trenches mapping out the ancient wall foundations of the newly discovered Pharaonic fortress of Tharo on the edge of Egypt's Sinai desert. Egypt announced today the discovery of the largest-ever military city from the Pharaonic period on the edge of the Sinai desert, part of a series of forts that stretched to the Gaza border. "The three forts are part of a string of 11 castles that made up the Horus military road that went from Suez all the way to the city of Rafah on the Egyptian-Palestinian border and dates to the 18th and 19th dynasties (1560-1081 BC)," antiquities chief Zahi Hawwas said in a statement. AFP PHOTO/SCA/HO EGYPT-ARCHAEOLOGY-MI LITARY-FORT-THARO 22 Jul 2007