Reduce number of redirects in htaccess - apache

Question

I currently force HTTP to HTTPS and also drop www for my domain ahtag.com, but when you request the root it redirects to ahtag.com/en/home.
Here's the .htaccess rewrite rules that I'm using.
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
# strip www subdomain
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
SetEnvIf HOST "ahtag\.com$" LIVE=1
# forbid non-GET on non-HTTPS
RewriteCond %{ENV:LIVE} 1
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !=GET
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# force HTTPS
RewriteCond %{ENV:LIVE} 1
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
# cakephp rewrite rule
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]
</IfModule>
This works fine, but I want to add some specific rules for the root domain. This will reduce redirects and improve response time for first time visitors.
How can I rewrite the following (including schema, host and path).
http://www.ahtag.com --> https://ahtag.com/en/home
http://ahtag.com --> https://ahtag.com/en/home
https://www.ahtag.com --> https://ahtag.com/en/home
https://ahtag.com --> https://ahtag.com/en/home
You get the idea. I just want to redirect on a special URL to the default home URL.
I've read the Apache manual for RewriteCond but I don't feel confident enough to push changes to the production server.

Answer 1

You can add this rule just below RewriteEngine line:
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\. [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(?:www\.)?(ahtag\.com)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^/?$ http://%1/en/home [L,R=301]
# strip www subdomain
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.(.*)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
SetEnvIf HOST "ahtag\.com$" LIVE=1
# forbid non-GET on non-HTTPS
RewriteCond %{ENV:LIVE} 1
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_METHOD} !=GET
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# force HTTPS
RewriteCond %{ENV:LIVE} 1
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} !=on
RewriteRule ^ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]
# cakephp rewrite rule
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteRule ^ index.php [L]