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A small group of pagans pledged Thursday to hold a protest prayer among the ruined Acropolis temples, more than 1,500 years after Christians stamped out worship of the ancient Greek gods.

Group spokeswoman Doretta Peppa said the worshippers would pray Sunday to Athena — goddess of wisdom and patron of ancient Athens — to protect the 2,500-year-old site. Peppa said followers of the old religion object to the removal last year of hundreds of sculptural masterpieces from a tiny museum on the Acropolis to a large new building under the citadel.

In a statement, her group, Ellinais, described the landmark glass and concrete structure as “an incredible architectural monstrosity that insults (Greece’s) cultural heritage.”

The $190 million building is where Greece hopes one day to display the Elgin Marbles beside the other Parthenon sculptures. Greek officials have said it will open next month, displaying some 4,000 artifacts. The Elgin Marbles were removed from the Parthenon temple by Scottish diplomat Lord Elgin in the 19th century, when Greece was still an unwilling part of the Ottoman empire. The British Museum has repeatedly rejected Greek calls for their return.

Peppa told The Associated Press she would prefer the Acropolis sculptures to have stayed at the ancient temples — from where they were removed by Greece over the past 30 years to stop erosion from Athens‘ polluted air.

“But even if we accept a new museum was needed … it should be in a style close to that of the ancient buildings,” she said. “It’s not a museum of modern art.”

Peppa’s Athens-based group, Ellinais, is campaigning to revive ancient religion and has defied Culture Ministry bans to hold prayers at several ancient temples.

She said she would not seek state permission for the ceremony, to be held near the ancient Parthenon temple, built between 447-432 B.C. in honor of Athena.

“We will just sing three hymns. It won’t be a big ceremony,” Peppa said. “I don’t know how many of us will be there. People are afraid. The fact is that we are subject to religious persecution.”

Christianity took hold in Greece in the 4th century. Roman Emperor Theodosius wiped out the last vestige of the Olympian gods when he abolished the Olympic Games in 394 A.D. The Parthenon was converted into a Christian church in the 5th century A.D.

Designed by U.S.-based architect Bernard Tschumi in collaboration with Greece’s Michalis Photiadis, the new Acropolis museum has been criticized for its bulk and modern style.

Architects and conservationists have denounced government plans to enhance its view of the Acropolis by demolishing two elegant, early 20th-century houses — one of which belongs to Oscar-winning composer Vangelis Papathanassiou.

Attackers opened fire on a military helicopter Thursday, killing a Lebanese army officer and forcing the craft to make an emergency landing, a senior security official said.

Details about the incident were sketchy, but the official said the helicopter was on a training mission when it came under fire and was forced down in the southern highland region of Iqlim al Tuffah province.

No one else in the crew was hurt, he said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity in line with military regulations. The army was investigating, he said.

The area is a predominantly Shiite, apple-growing region southeast of the southern port city of Sidon, far from Lebanon’s sensitive Syrian and Israeli borders. It’s also a stronghold of Hezbollah, the Shiite Muslim group, which is believed to have bases and positions there.

The area has not had clashes between Hezbollah guerrillas and Lebanese troops in the past, and the group has verbally condemned previous attacks on the army.

The Lebanese army has clashed with Sunni militants, particularly in the north, and the military has recently been targeted.

A bus bombing earlier this month in the northern city of Tripoli killed 18 people, including 10 soldiers. Last month, unknown gunmen attacked a Lebanese military post in remote northeastern Lebanon, killing one soldier and wounding another.

The U.S. Department of Defense says the United States plans to cease operations at 15 minor Army facilities in Germany amid a wider effort to realign the military’s overseas structure.

A statement Thursday says the department has determined that the facilities are surplus to requirements because of changes already carried out “and the attendant reduction in installation and personnel support requirements.”

They include barracks, family housing areas and storage areas at Idar-Oberstein, Dexheim and elsewhere. Their current annual operating costs total some $15 million

The Department of Defense says the site closures will affect 49 military personnel, 350 U.S. civilians and 140 local employees. The facilities will be returned to German authorities — many of them this year or next.

The Iraqi battalion leader huddled over the map with his American advisers, showing them how he planned to surround a Sunni enclave where al-Qaida militants were believed hiding.

The Americans nodded in approval and assured Col. Faisal Malik Mohsen the roads would be cleared of bombs. U.S. attack helicopters would provide cover to keep insurgents from escaping.

The raid last week northeast of Baghdad did not find many weapons or flush out scores of hidden fighters. But it accomplished a wider objective: taking another step toward putting Iraqi security forces in control of ground operations.

Such transitions to Iraqi command — occurring at different speeds around the country — have taken on added importance as Washington and Baghdad negotiate a pact that could have the last U.S. soldiers leaving by the end of 2011.

But they also expose the many weaknesses of the Iraqi forces that still rely on American help for everything from air support to bottled water in the field.

U.S. troops even were forced to step in and provide fuel when the National Police did not receive government allotments for about two weeks in July, leaving many units near empty.

Before the Aug. 21 raid, informants had warned that militants would likely stand and fight. The informants were wrong. Instead of bullets, the police commandos were greeted with smiles and glasses of water as they searched houses.

Two men were detained without incident and several assault rifles were seized.

Mohsen, the 42-year-old commander from the southern Shiite city of Nasiriyah, and his U.S. advisers backers acknowledged their intelligence had been faulty. The militants probably fled ahead of the operation. Still they proclaimed the raid a success because one more al-Qaida safe haven was gone.

The National Police — a 40,000-strong paramilitary force that is one of the three main pillars of the Iraqi security apparatus — have faced roadside bombs and booby-trapped houses since arriving in Diyala province late last month in the latest government effort to rout insurgents there. Five commandos have been killed and eight wounded.

U.S. officials maintain the force is improving — a necessary step before the Americans can go home. But the Iraqis are still lacking in logistical and explosives expertise as well as medical capabilities.

“When people ask what the exit strategy is, this is it,” said Col. Thearon Williams, 45, of Detroit, commander of the U.S. advisory team for the National Police. “It’s small groups of Americans living among the Iraqis and training them.”

The Iraqi security forces have enjoyed increased public confidence after a series of government offensives against Sunni and Shiite extremists that began in March in the southern city of Basra.

But U.S. forces were needed as backup in every situation and it took a Shiite militia cease-fire and Iranian intervention to stop the fierce fighting that broke out in Basra.

Anthony Cordesman of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies warns against exaggerating the Iraqi troops’ progress, citing serious ethnic and sectarian tensions and a shortage of experienced officers.

“Both Iraqi and U.S. politicians now seem to take such reporting too seriously and be unaware of how much still needs to be done,” he said in a recent analysis.

The Aug. 21 operation showed the interplay between the Iraqis and the Americans trying to get Iraq’s forces into shape.

Before the raid, Mohsen’s American advisers told him to weigh the timing carefully. His Iraqi commanding general called him to a special meeting on the eve of the raid to make sure he was ready.

Mohsen, who is scheduled for leadership training in the United States later this year, was eager for the fight. Nevertheless, he acknowledges that his unit isn’t ready to operate alone.

“We need the Americans,” he said. “We need time. We cannot build a whole country in a few years. We complement each other.”

With the raid set to go, the national policemen in their trademark blue camouflage uniforms rolled out before dawn in blue-and-white pickups reinforced with metal sheeting and piled high with thin mattresses and plastic chairs that served as seats for the gunners.

To ensure surprise, Mohsen led a group on foot through a palm grove, while the convoy waited down the road for the go-ahead to approach the isolated Sunni hamlet of Harbatiliyah, 15 miles northeast of Baqouba. U.S. helicopters buzzed overhead.

“Everybody knows this area used to be a bunker for al-Qaida in Iraq,” Mohsen said. “But they know they can’t fight us.”

Sgt. Razzaq Latif al-Osmi, a 21-year-old newlywed from Nasiriyah, and other squadron leaders ordered their men into formation and began searching the collection of mud thatch compounds, including many houses abandoned last year after most Shiite residents were scared away.

The troops knocked politely on the gates — often welcomed by men holding out their IDs ready to be checked — then carefully picked through piles of thin mattresses, clothing and bags.

Sheiks and young men wearing yellow bands showing they’re members of a U.S.-allied Sunni group came forth to greet the police.

At one point, al-Osmi questioned a teenage boy about Saddam Hussein-era uniforms found in a closet, then patted him on the shoulder and assured him the search was for his own security.

The young squadron commander, with sweat dripping off his face as temperatures pushed to 120 degrees, said he didn’t really expect to find any weapons.

“But it’s important to send a message to the insurgents,” he said.