I'm not saying what at least 10 different news programs on the holonet haven't already said in the past two hours that I've been looking at it. And, unlike many of them, I left the Jedi out of it completely.
Nor does it seem a far stretch just by looking at a galactic atlas. Ithor, Dantooine, Obroa-Skai, Duro, we're practically surrounded, and whatever the Republic has been doing - clearly it's not been effective.