Professor Wayne King-Meiouf of the University of ProximaNews of the defence pact and arms sales between the Clones and the Rectoids are a nightmare for the Free Eritran States. Their military strategy has been to build up forces to defend again Clone incursions (and even one day liberate the former Eritran Trade Federation worlds which now forms the bulk of the CSE-E - not that anyone will say that openly of course!)
Although the Utrek are a looming threat too the FES have chosen to largely ignore this, and wisely in my view as an attack from the Utrek would be unstoppable for a force as big as the FES so there is not much point in wasting resources in that direction apart from a few token patrols and surveillance stations.
Now however the FES face a threat from their other flank, they are the filling in a Clone-Rectoid sandwich. The FES could ignore the Rectoids too of course but it is likely the Clones will place some of their forces there too.
Faced with this strategic nightmare i understand there are genuine worries in the DDS that the FES may decide waiting will just make their situation worse and they should strike the Clones now. They probably have enough forces to punch through the relatively weak CSE-E line actually. Contrary to some rumours (mostly of Clone propaganda origin) the DDS can't "turn off" the TPMs and other goodies they have given the FES though they may stop sharing information.
There isn't a huge amount the DDS could do to stop the FES if they decided to embark on such an adventure, the best they could do is advise the Eritrans against it. While the FES possess the forces to storm into CSE-E space what then? The FES possess little ground attack weaponry and no amphibious capability (and not much of a land force in any case). The Clones could simply wait it out for the FES to run low on supplies or reinforcements from CSE-W came. Indeed the Clones would be best off letting the FES through into their space unopposed and relying on static defence of their orbital facilities (which are pretty strong).
Logically attacking the Clones is totally wrong but of course desperate people can lose track of logic. The DDS need to do something to reassure the Eritrans and fast before that desperation runs out of control.
