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"Send the blond horse" is a coded message included in a letter Prince Faisal sent to his father, Sharif Hussein, after his famons cry "oh Arabs, death is sweet!" which came in the wake of the Turkish authorities execution of a group of free Arabs on 6 May 1916. The code signaled the start of the Great Arab Revolt.

Setting the zero hour for launching the Arab Revolt against the Turks was connected to two events:

First: The launch of a selected, 3,500-strong Turkish force led by Kairy Bek to Yemen, according to a telegram from Djemal Pasha to Sharif Hussein dated 2 April 1916. But Sharif Hussein believed that the force was headed for Mecca, not Yemen, because it was dispatched at the same time that Djemal Pasha was pushing the Sharif to send fighters to the Levant, meaning that the Turks sought to empty Al Hijaz of any Arab forces and replace them with Turkish forces, under the guise of sending them to Yemen. The event would mirror what took place in Syria, when the Arab forces were sent to Gallipoli and replaced with Turkish forces.

Second: Djemal Pasha’s execution of the second group of free Arabs on 6 May 1916, despite Prince Faisal’s mediation efforts, which was supported by Sharif Hussein’s mediation as well. The Turkish authorities executed two groups of free Arabs at the Marjeh Square in Damascus and the Martyrs’ Square in Beirut. These events had a profound effect on Arabs, with Prince Faisal uttering his famous cry “Oh Arabs, death is sweet!”, upon hearing the news of the executions in Damascus. He sent a short message to his father in which he wrote: “Send the blonde horse,” a code that meant the start of the Great Arab Revolt and the firing of the first shot. And so the Great Arab Revolt began.