In another incident, three French soldiers in the peacekeeping force were wounded by unknown assailants who fired on them while they were jogging. Mr. Romberg said the incident ''concerns us and underscores the importance of a withdrawal of all foreign forces as soon as possible.''

Mr. Weinberger and the Joint Chiefs of Staff were reluctant to commit the Marines to Lebanon because they did not want to risk clashes between United States military forces and Arab or Israeli forces in Lebanon or to get bogged down in a long stay.

The Marines went to Lebanon initially for 16 days in June, then returned after the massacre in the Beirut refugee camps in September. The Administration hoped to pull the Marines out by the end of 1982 but was unable to do so because other foreign troops had not left.

According to the Pentagon account, the confrontation began when the three British-built Centurion tanks moved north on a path toward the Marine company headquarters. They were about 300 yards from the Marine position when Captain Johnson stepped out to halt them.

''The lead Israeli tank stopped within a foot of him,'' the account said. Captain Johnson asked to speak to the senior Israeli, who dismounted after five minutes. Neither the Pentagon nor the Israeli Embassy made public the name of that officer, a lieutenant colonel reported to have been involved in two earlier incidents.

Captain Johnson told the Israeli officer that he had orders not to permit the tanks to pass. The Israeli said that he intended to proceed through the Marine position to a railroad track and that he also wanted to speak to a Marine general.

When Captain Johnson repeated his orders, the Israeli said he would pass through anyway and mounted his tank. ''At this point,'' the Pentagon statement said, ''the company commander drew and loaded his weapon and stated that the tanks would have to go over him to pass.''